Most news organizations, including The Washington Post, closely monitor the work of journalists with known or potential conflicts. (Full disclosures: The Post’s Justice Department reporter, Sari Horwitz, is married to William B. Schultz, the general counsel of the Department of Human Services; the reporter of this article sometimes writes about CBS News and is related to an employee there.)
Some outlets demand that their journalists recuse themselves from assignments that might tread too close to a family member’s area of responsibility.
ABC, for example, says that Sherwood doesn’t get involved with any stories dealing with arm’s control, his sister’s specialty. NPR said Shapiro avoids any story in which a member of the White House counsel’s office participates, such as a recent background briefing on Benghazi. And CNN said Moseley, who formerly was with ABC News, recuses herself from working on any story about the Benghazi investigation, even though her husband left the State Department in February. (Nides, a Clinton confidant, was in charge of the State Department’s internal operations until February.)
However, sometimes the potential conflict is deemed so insurmountable that news organizations reassign their journalists.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member