Hotmail
Messenger
My MSN
MSN Directory
The list: Journalists who wrote political checks
And their explanations, from ‘Yikes!’ to ‘They’re all in somebody’s pocket’
 | Interactive |
 | NBC News |
Cartoons |
 |
A correction has been added to this article.
The following 143 journalists made campaign contributions from 2004 through the first quarter of 2007, according to Federal Election Commission records studied by MSNBC.com.
Key:
(D) contributed to Democrats or liberal causes.
(R) to Republicans and conservative causes.
Click on "details" next to each name to see the amounts and what the journalists have to say.
(D) ABC News, Mary Fulginiti, "Primetime" correspondent. Click for details.
(D) ABC affiliate in Boston, WCVB, Sangita Chandra, producer. Click for details.
(D) ABC affiliate in Wichita, KAKE, Susan Peters, anchor. Click for details.
(D) CBS News, Serena Altschul, correspondent for "CBS Sunday Morning." Click for details.
(D) CBS News, Edward H. Forgotson Jr., producer, "CBS Sunday Morning." Click for details.
(D) CBS affiliate in Boston, WBZ, Liz Walker, newsmagazine host. Click for details.
(D) CBS affiliate in Los Angeles, KCBS, Claudia Bill, news writer. Click for details.
(D) CBS affiliate in Memphis, WREG, Markova Reed, anchors the morning and noon news. Click for details.
(D) CNN, Guy Raz, Jerusalem correspondent, now defense correspondent for National Public Radio. Click for details.
(R) CW affiliate in Chicago, WGN, Jay Congdon, news producer. Click for details.
(R) CW affiliate in Los Angeles, KTLA, Diana Chi, news writer. Click for details.
(R) Fox News Channel, Ann Stewart Banker, producer for Bill O'Reilly's "The O'Reilly Factor." Click for details.
(D) Fox News Channel, Codie Brooks, researcher for Brit Hume's "Special Report." Click for details.
(D) Fox affiliate in Omaha, KPTM, Calvert Collins, reporter. Click for details.
(D) Fox affiliate in Minneapolis, KMSP, Alix Kendall, morning anchor. Click for details.
(D) Fox affiliate in Washington, D.C., WTTG, Laura Evans, anchor. Click for details.
|
(D) MTV News, Gideon Yago, "Choose or Lose" presidential correspondent. Click for details.
(D) NBC News, Victoria Corderi, "Dateline" correspondent. Click for details.
(R) PBS affiliate in New York, Thirteen/WNET, Rafael Roman, host, "New York Voices." Click for details.
(D) Independent station KTVK, Phoenix, Steve Bodinet, reporter. Click for details.
-----
(D) MSNBC.com, Rachel Schwanewede, senior editor, TodayShow.com. Click for details.
(D) MSNBC.com, Joel Widzer, travel columnist. Click for details.
(D) Salon.com, Gary Kamiya, writer at large and former executive editor. Click for details.
(D) Salon.com, Katharine Mieszkowski, reporter. Click for details.
-----
(D) The Atlantic Monthly, Martha Spaulding, assistant managing editor. Click for details.
(D) Business Week, Prudence Crowther, chief copy editor. Click for details.
(D) The Economist, Andreas Kluth, technology correspondent. Click for details.
(D) The Economist, Joanne Ramos, financial writer. Click for details.
(R) Forbes, Jean A. Briggs, assistant managing editor. Click for details.
(R) Forbes, Robert Lenzner, national editor. Click for details.
(D) Forbes, Tatiana Serafin, senior reporter. Click for details.
(D) Inc., Jane Berentson, editor. Click for details.
(D) The New Yorker, David Denby, film critic. Click for details.
(D) The New Yorker, Henry Finder, editorial director and books editor. Click for details.
(D) The New Yorker, Tad Friend, Hollywood reporter. Click for details.
(D) The New Yorker, Ann Goldstein, head of copy department. Click for details.
(D) The New Yorker, Hendrik Hertzberg, senior editor. Click for details.
(D) The New Yorker, John Lahr, theater critic. Click for details.
(D) The New Yorker, Janet Malcolm, writer. Click for details.
(D) The New Yorker, George Packer, war correspondent. Click for details.
(D) The New Yorker, Mark Singer, profile writer. Click for details.
(D) The New Yorker, Judith Thurman, writer. Click for details.
(D) Newsweek, Temma Ehrenfeld, associate editor. Click for details.
(D & R) Newsweek, Jane Bryant Quinn, personal finance columnist. Click for details.
(D) Newsweek, Anne Underwood, correspondent on health and medical stories. Click for details.
(D) Rolling Stone, Jason Fine, deputy managing editor. Click for details.
(D) Rolling Stone, David Swanson, assistant editor. Click for details.
(D) Rolling Stone, Jann Wenner, editor and publisher. Click for details.
(D) Time, Jim Frederick, senior editor. Click for details.
(D) U.S. News & World Report, Michael Freeman, researcher. Click for details.
(D) U.S. News & World Report, Amanda Spake, senior writer. Click for details.
(D) Vanity Fair, Elise O'Shaughnessy, contributing editor. Click for details.
(D) Vanity Fair, Michael Shnayerson, contributing editor. Click for details.
Click for related content |
(in order by approximate circulation)
(D) McClatchy Newspapers, Beryl Adcock, news desk chief, Washington bureau. Click for details.
(D) The Wall Street Journal, Krishnan Amantharaman, managing editor of the classroom edition. Click for details.
(D) The Wall Street Journal, Henny Sender, senior special writer. Click for details.
(D) The Wall Street Journal, Eben Shapiro, editor of the Weekend Journal section. Click for details.
(D) The New York Times, Randy Cohen, ethics columnist. Click for details.
(D) The New York Times, Christine Muhlke, deputy editor, style magazine. Click for details.
(D & R) The New York Times, Nancy Tilghman, freelance writer. Click for details.
(D) Los Angeles Times, Nick Cuccia, design editor. Click for details.
(D) Los Angeles Times, Manohla Dargis, film critic, now at The New York Times. Click for details.
(D) Los Angeles Times, Dan Neil, automobile critic. Click for details.
(R) Los Angeles Times, Charles Perry, food writer. Click for details.
(D) New York Daily News, Celia McGee, reporter, and freelancer for The New York Times. Click for details.
(D) New York Daily News, Matthew Roberts, photographer. Click for details.
(R) The Washington Post, Stephen Hunter, film critic. Click for details.
(D) The Chicago Tribune, Maureen Ryan, entertainment reporter. Click for details.
(D) The Chicago Tribune, John von Rhein, classical music critic. Click for details.
(D) San Francisco Chronicle, William Pates, letters editor for the editorial page. Click for details.
(D) Newsday, Long Island, Rita Hall, section designer/artist/writer. Click for details.
(D) The Boston Globe, Rebecca Ostriker, arts editor/writer. Click for details.
(D) The Boston Globe, Henry Riemer, sports statistician. Click for details.
(R) The Star-Ledger, Newark, Robin Gaby Fisher, feature writer. Click for details.
(D) Star Tribune, Minneapolis, Barbara Haugen, copy editor. Click for details.
(D) Detroit Free Press, Susan Hall-Balduf, copy editor. Click for details.
(D) Detroit Free Press, Joel Thurtell, reporter. Click for details.
(D) The Oregonian, Portland, Steve Amick, reporter. Click for details.
(R) The Miami Herald, Harry Broertjes, copy editor/page designer. Click for details.
(D) The San Diego Union-Tribune, Penni Crabtree, business reporter. Click for details.
(D) The San Diego Union-Tribune, Bob Elledge, assistant news editor. Click for details.
(D) The San Diego Union-Tribune, Shaffer Grubb, graphic artist. Click for details.
(D) The San Diego Union-Tribune, Arline Smith, news production editor. Click for details.
(D) The San Diego Union-Tribune, Charlie Smith, copy editor. Click for details.
(D) The Sun, Baltimore, John Scholz, copy editor. Click for details.
(D) San Jose Mercury News, Rachel Wilner, sports editor. Click for details.
(D) Boston Herald, Chris Donnelly, news librarian. Click for details.
(D) South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Fort Lauderdale, Ethan Skolnick, sports columnist. Click for details.
(D) Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Randy Galloway, sports columnist. Click for details.
(D) Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Vincent Langford, sports copy editor. Click for details.
(D) The Hartford Courant, Nancy Gallinger, copy editor. Click for details.
(D) The Hartford Courant, Bill Lewis, copy editor. Click for details.
(D) Richmond Times-Dispatch, Michael Hardy, state political reporter. Click for details.
(D) Richmond Times-Dispatch, Pam Mastropaolo, copy editor. Click for details.
(D) Contra Costa Times, Calif., Robert Taylor, fine arts reporter. Click for details.
(D) The Press-Enterprise, Riverside, Calif., Mark Benoit, wire editor. Click for details.
(D) The Palm Beach Post, Fla., George McEvoy, columnist. Click for details.
(R) The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, Barbara Bradley, fashion editor. Click for details.
(D) The Des Moines Register, Stephen P. Dinnen, business reporter. Click for details.
(D) The Honolulu Advertiser, Chris Neil, wire editor. Click for details.
(D) The Blade, Toledo, James Bradley, copy editor. Click for details.
(D) Lexington Herald-Leader, Brian Throckmorton, copy desk chief. Click for details.
(R) The Morning Call, Allentown, Pa., Beth Hudson, sports reporter. Click for details.
(D) The Daytona Beach, Fla., News-Journal, Marc Davidson, editor. Click for details.
(D) Albany, N.Y., Times Union, Greg Montgomery, graphic design editor. Click for details.
(R) The Washington Times, Gary Arnold, film critic. Click for details.
(D) San Gabriel Valley Newspapers, Calif., Eric Terrazas, sports editor. Click for details.
(R) The New York Sun, Liz Peek, financial columnist. Click for details.
(D) The Lincoln, Neb., Journal Star, Paul Fell, editorial cartoonist. Click for details.
(D) The Lincoln, Neb., Journal Star, Sylvia Hermanson, copy editor. Click for details.
(R) The Macon, Ga., Telegraph, Stephen "Keich" Whicker, local government reporter. Click for details.
(D) New Hampshire Union Leader, David Johnson, sports copy editor. Click for details.
(D) Corpus Christi, Texas, Caller-Times, Elvia Aguilar, business writer. Click for details.
(D) National Catholic Reporter, Margot Patterson, senior writer and arts/opinion editor. Click for details.
(D) York, Pa., Daily Record, Teresa Cook, copy editor. Click for details.
(D) Muskegon, Mich., Chronicle, Terry Judd, reporter and chief of the Grand Haven bureau. Click for details.
(D) Fort Wayne, Ind., News-Sentinel, Fran Adler, copy editor. Click for details.
(D) Fort Wayne, Ind., News-Sentinel, Faith Van Gilder, copy editor. Click for details.
(D) Martha's Vineyard, Mass., Times, Whit Griswold, copy editor. Click for details.
-----
(D) Air America and CBS Radio, Betsy Rosenberg-Zimmerman, environment talk show host and environment reporter. Click for details.
(D) National Public Radio, Corey Flintoff, newscaster. Click for details.
(D) National Public Radio, Michelle Trudeau, correspondent. Click for details.
(D) NPR affiliate in Washington, WAMU, Susan Goodman, reporter. Click for details.
(D) WWJ News Radio, Detroit, Vickie B. Thomas, reporter. Click for details.
-----
(D) Bloomberg News, Katherine Burton, reporter. Click for details.
(D) Bloomberg News, Robert Dieterich, energy editor. Click for details.
(D) Bloomberg News, Joshua Fellman, reporter in Asia. Click for details.
(D) Bloomberg News, Robert Houck, multimedia news editor. Click for details.
(D) Bloomberg News, Milanee Kapadia, reporter. Click for details.
(D) Bloomberg News, James Polson, reporter on energy and utilities. Click for details.
(D) Bloomberg News, Carlos Torres, reporter in Washington. Click for details.
(D) Bloomberg News, Robert Urban, real estate reporter. Click for details.
(D) Bloomberg News, John Wydra, radio newscaster. Click for details.
(D) Dow Jones Newswires, Samuel J. Favate Jr., editor. Click for details.
(D) Dow Jones Newswires, Billy Mallard, credit markets editor. Click for details.
(D) Reuters, Lisa von Ahn, news desk editor. Click for details.
(D) Reuters, Michael Erman, reporter. Click for details.
-----
Non-English-language news organizations:
(D) La Stampa, newspaper in Turin, Italy, Paolo Mastrolilli, New York correspondent. Click for details.
(D) New Delhi Television, Stephen Marks, reporter. Click for details.
(D) The Korea Daily News, Chang W. Kim, journalist. Click for details.
(D) Oriental Daily, Chun Fai Cheng, reporter. Click for details.
Click for related content |
Details:
Television:
(D) ABC News, Mary Fulginiti, "Primetime" correspondent, Hollywood, Calif., $500 to Gov. Bill Richardson, Democratic presidential candidate, 2007. Before she joined ABC in November 2006, lawyer Fulginiti gave $6,000 to Democratic candidates.
ABC forbids political activity by journalists.
"A friend asked me to contribute" to Richardson, Fulginiti said. "This is not a reflection of my political views. Look, I've made a mistake here. I'm a legal analyst — this is all new to me. I have been politically active in the past. This is when I was just starting out at ABC. I was still thinking as a lawyer."
-----
(D) ABC affiliate in Boston, WCVB, Sangita Chandra, producer, $250 to House candidate Jamie Wall, Democrat, Wisconsin, in April 2005.
Chandra is a producer for the nightly newsmagazine "Chronicle" and news and feature programs. She said she gave to the candidate in Wisconsin because of a personal connection. "He's one of my best friends. He's the only candidate I've donated to."
-----
(D) ABC affiliate in Wichita, Susan Peters, anchor, $600 to America Coming Together in two donations in 2004 and 2005. She anchors the news at 5, 6 and 10 p.m. America Coming Together funded get-out-the-vote drives to defeat President Bush in 2004.
Peters didn't return calls.
KAKE news director David Grant said, "To be honest, I don't have an answer for you. Can I get back to you?" He didn't call back.
-----
(D) CBS News, Serena Altschul, contributing correspondent for "CBS Sunday Morning," $5,000 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in October 2004. She was a correspondent for CBS from 2003 to 2006.
A CBS spokeswoman said Altschul "did some checking with family members, and the contribution was in fact made in her name."
A year after this donation, CBS tightened its policy to forbid all political activity.
-----
(D) CBS News, producer, Edward H. Forgotson Jr., "CBS Sunday Morning," $1,000 in June 2006 to Patrick J. Kennedy, Democrat, the Rhode Island congressman and son of Sen. Ted Kennedy. The donation was made two weeks after Kennedy pleaded guilty to driving under the influence of prescription drugs in an accident on Capitol Hill.
A CBS spokesman said the network's policy was tightened in September 2006 to forbid contributions to political campaigns. Previously, there was a bit of wiggle room.
"My donation pre-dates the clarification of CBS News policy," Forgotson said. "I've made no contributions to any candidate or party since."
-----
(D) CBS affiliate in Boston, WBZ, Liz Walker, newsmagazine host, $1,000 to Women Senate 2006, which gave to Democratic candidates, in December 2005; $2,500 to Democratic Sen. Hillary Clinton in January 2005; $250 to Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow in Michigan in March 2006; and $250 to Sen. Maria Cantwell, Washington Democrat, in March 2006.
Walker did not return a phone call, but WBZ spokeswoman Ro Dooley Webster said that Walker was not in the news department when she made those contributions, though she has since returned to a news department role. Walker had been the station's anchor for 20 years but left in January 2005 to become host of the station's community affairs and opinion show. She made the contributions in 2005 and 2006, before returning to a news role, doing pieces for the newscast.
-----
(D) CBS affiliate in Los Angeles, KCBS, Claudia Bill, news writer, $250 to Democrat John Edwards in March 2007, and $500 to Democratic candidate Lois Capps in a House race in October 2003.
"I'm a news writer. I write copy for the anchors," Bill said. "What's written by the news writers is copy edited several times. I haven't covered any politics at all in this particular race. I made a donation as a private citizen, not as a member of CBS. If I were, say, Katy Couric, then you may have a different picture." She said she wasn't aware that CBS policy now forbids donations.
-----
(D) CBS affiliate in Memphis, WREG, Markova Reed, anchor of morning and noon news, $250 to Ed Stanton, a Democratic House candidate from Memphis, in January 2006.
Reed did not return calls. WREG's president and general manager, Ronald A. Walter, said, "Yes, we do restrict employees, journalists particularly, from engaging in political activity. We don't want people doing that. We feel that in this particular case it was an innocent mistake on her part, and we have handled it internally."
-----
(D) CNN, Guy Raz, Jerusalem correspondent, now with NPR as defense correspondent, $500 to John Kerry in June 2004.
Raz donated to Kerry the same month he was embedded in Iraq with U.S. troops for CNN. He also covered reaction to Abu Ghraib and President Bush's policies in the Middle East. In 2006, he returned to NPR, and covers the Pentagon.
"Yes, I made the donation," Raz said in an e-mail. "At the time, I was a reporter with CNN International based out of London. I covered international news and European Union stories. I did not cover US news or politics."
Both CNN and NPR prohibit political activity by all journalists, no matter their assignment.
-----
(R) CW affiliate in Chicago, WGN, Jay Congdon, news producer, $500 to Republican senatorial candidate Cynthia Thielen of Hawaii in October 2006.
Congdon did not return phone calls. The station's management would only confirm that he is employed.
-----
(R) CW affiliate in Los Angeles, KTLA, Diana Chi, news writer, 19 contributions totaling $8,025 to the Republican National Committee from 2002 through 2006.
Chi did not return phone calls. Nor did the news director, Jeff Wald.
-----
(R) Fox News Channel, Ann Stewart Banker, producer for Bill O'Reilly's "The O'Reilly Factor," $5,000 in June 2006 to Volunteer PAC, which gave to Republican candidates. Her father was once a campaign treasurer for former Republican Sen. Bill Frist of Tennessee.
Banker didn't return calls. A Fox News spokesman said donations are allowed.
-----
(D) Fox News Channel, Codie Brooks, researcher for Brit Hume's "Special Report," $300 to Senate campaign of Harold Ford Jr., Tennessee Democrat, in March 2006, $200 more in June, and $2,100 more in September.
Brooks, who said her family is friendly with Ford's, said she raised much of the $2,600 from friends — it wasn't her money alone. "A lot of Fox employees have contributed to Democratic candidates. I know I'm not the only one."
-----
(D) Fox affiliate in Omaha, KPTM, Calvert Collins, reporter, $500 in October 2006 to Jim Esch, Democratic House candidate from Omaha. Esch lost to the Republican incumbent in November.
Collins says that her father made the campaign contribution. "I had told my dad that I was friends with this man. He said, 'Would you like me to make a donation?' I said, 'That's up to you, but don't do it in my name.'" She said her father also made a $2,000 contribution in her name to Kay Granger, Republican, Texas, in 2004, when Collins was a student in broadcast journalism at the University of Missouri-Columbia.
Collins also posted a photo of herself with the candidate on her Facebook page, with the note, "Vote for him Tuesday, Nov. 7!" After the photo was posted on a blog about Nebraska politics, a public Web site, she posted a reply:
"I would like to take a moment to set the record straight, Jim and I are friends, and nothing more. It is part of my job to build rapport with candidates and incumbents during election season. I have many friends in other campaigns... It is also important to note, I have NEVER covered the 2nd District Congressional Race, and have no plans to do so in the coming week.
"To those of you who have been offended by this incident, I apologize. My relationships with politicians have not and will not affect my reporting. I appreciate your understanding."
She told MSNBC.com, "I covered more politics than any of our reporters. I try to establish good relationships with both sides, so they would call our station. A lot of the political PR people are former reporters, so they have allegiance to one candidate or another."
The photo was taken at a cancer fundraiser, she said. "We have a lot of mutual friends." She said she posted it on her Facebook page where only her friends could see it. "I foolishly wrote, in jest, to vote for him, and forgot completely that that was on there. When my boss heard about it, I immediately removed it. Press people of opponents called it to attention."
"The irony is, if anyone had really done their research, I was a registered Republican. I have now changed to being an Independent, and I will stay that way my entire career. I learned a lot from this experience that I will never repeat. In a way, I'm glad this happened to me at age 23, and not 33, and I will learn from it."
Update on June 25: Collins is no longer at the station.
-----
(D) Fox affiliate in Minneapolis, KMSP, Alix Kendall, morning anchor, $250 in September 2006 to Midwest Values PAC, which gave to Democratic candidates.
Kendall said she opposes the war and thought that her donation was anonymous.
"I also believe that the station doesn't own my political views and values. Did I make the contribution? I did. We all have political opinions in this business. A lot of us want to be politically active. But marching in a war protest isn't an option, being a recognizable person, so we give with our checkbook. I don't think that working for a news organization I give up my rights. I interview plenty of people that I don't agree with, but I also ask questions to get the other side. I think it's actually an advantage — in a news organization we have people of many political views. We have healthy debates. I think it's my civic duty to be involved in what matters to me. I think it's ridiculous that anyone who's sitting in front of a camera doesn't have an opinion — come on, we all do. Did I think about that at the time? No, I didn't. Maybe I should have. But I still feel I have a right to my civic duties."
-----
(D) Fox affiliate in Washington, D.C., WTTG, Laura Evans, anchor, $500 in August 2006 to John Sarbanes, Democratic House candidate in Maryland. Evans anchors the 5 p.m. news. She is listed in FEC records by her married name, Laura Manatos.
On her blog on the station's Web site she commented recently on the Iraq war: " Everyone's trying to save face here ... all the while people are dying. Didn't voters in November speak loud and clear, saying they're tired of the fighting and want an end in sight?"
When first contacted by MSNBC.com, Evans said her husband, lobbyist Mike Manatos, "actually made the contribution, and the check was written on our account."
But the records show that her husband had already given the legal limit to Sarbanes. He couldn't legally contribute more. When asked about those records, she said, "I hadn't talked to my husband. He reminded me that he had actually talked to me about this, because he had maxed out, could we write a check in my name. I said, 'Sure.' Now I remember having this conversation. It's within Fox policy, it was OK for me to do it."
Fox does allow news employees to make political contributions.
-----
(R) MSNBC, Joe Scarborough, host of the "Morning Joe" talk show and the evening newscast "Scarborough Country," $4,200 in March 2006 to Derrick Kitts, Republican candidate for the House from Oregon. Scarborough was a Republican member of Congress from Florida from 1995 to 2001. He also provides political commentary for MSNBC, CNBC and NBC's "Today Show."
MSNBC policy requires journalists to report any potential conflict of interest and to seek approval from the president of NBC News before making any political contribution.
A spokesperson for NBC, Jeremy Gaines, replied to questions sent to Scarborough. "Yes, he did make a donation to Derrick Kitts. Kitts is an old friend of Joe's. Joe hosts an opinion program and is not a news reporter."
-----
(D) MTV News, Gideon Yago, "Choose or Lose" presidential correspondent, $200 to Democratic presidential candidate Wesley Clark in January 2004; $500 to America Coming Together, which campaigned against President Bush, in September 2004; $250 to the Democratic National Committee in September 2004; $250 to VoteVets, which is running ads against the president's handling of the war, in March 2006, and $250 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in October 2006. He said he is no longer at MTV News.
Gideon Yago, raw:
"I don't understand. Things that I do as a private citizen?
"We're not a traditional news network in the sense of NBC or Fox or CBS.
"We're sensitive about equal time or fairness. We're non-biased.
"I mean, what the f---, man?
"I came back from doing coverage in Iraq and was very moved by what I saw. I was never told by my boss or anyone that we couldn't give to a campaign.
"I'm not a journalist now. Writing fiction.
"Ninety percent of what we did was simple identification, after 9/11: Who is Rumsfeld? Who is Colin Powell? Who is Al Qaeda?
"I try to call it as you see it.
"After my second trip to Iraq in 2004, I felt the conventional news media was not doing a good enough job of conveying the horrors and the failures of the war in Iraq.
"At 18 I was a registered Republican. At 24, I was a registered Democrat.
"I tried very hard — our job was not an indoctrination process — I tried to be as professional as possible whenever possible.
"We were a non-traditional news outlet. We were nonpartisan.
""OK, I've been rebuked. Thank you for spanking me in public.
"Do you hand in all your rights as a public citizen when you do this?
"I mean — who's your editor? I'm going to call him right now."
-----
(D) NBC News, Victoria Corderi, "Dateline" correspondent, $250 in December 2005 to Democrat Josh Rales, who ran for Sen. Paul Sarbanes' open seat in Maryland. Rales finished a distant third in the primary. Corderi is listed in the FEC records by her married name, Keane.
"In a word, 'Yikes!'" Corderi said in an e-mail. "Josh Rales is a longtime neighbor and acquaintance. A good friend of mine gave him a cocktail party last year, a sort of 'meet and greet.' My husband and I went to be nice, knowing full well Josh was tilting at windmills with his candidacy. Later, my husband (who is a dyed-in-the-wool Republican, by the way) told me he'd written a check for a nominal amount so our friend would have something to show for the night. I'd not even thought to consider that since my name is on our checks that I would appear in public records as a contributor. I have a policy of not contributing to campaigns and not showing public support for candidates. This was a lapse that you brought to my attention."
The NBC policy does not outright allow or forbid donations but requires approval of the president of NBC News.
-----
(R) PBS affiliate in New York, Thirteen/WNET, Rafael Roman, host of "New York Voices," $250 to President Bush in July 2004, and $300 to Republican Sen. John Thune of South Dakota the same month.
"I wouldn't do it again, quite frankly," said Roman, a former news anchor for WNET. "At that time it seemed to me that it wasn't part of a story that I was covering in the future. I would say, now, no. Even if you're not covering something, you might at some point. Citizenship is an important responsibility that's not taken away by the job you do, but I wouldn't do it again."
-----
(D) Independent station KTVK, Phoenix, Steve Bodinet, reporter, $400 to John Kerry in May 2004.
Bodinet did not reply to messages.
Click for related content |
Online:
(D) MSNBC.com, Rachel Schwanewede, senior editor, TodayShow.com, $461.30 to America Coming Together in October 2004. She was among the more than 20 journalists who bought tickets to the "Vote for Change" series of concerts to raise money to defeat President Bush in 2004. MSNBC.com is not naming the others, but in the interest of transparency we are naming our own.
Schwanewede said she purchased the tickets for her husband's birthday for a Springsteen concert.
"There's no intention of mine to donate to any political campaign."
MSNBC.com policy requires permission of the editor in chief for any political activity.
-----
(D) MSNBC.com, Joel Widzer, travel columnist, $2,000 to Democratic presidential candidate Bill Richardson in February 2007. Widzer actually is an employee of MSNBC.com partner Tripso.com, though the FEC record lists his employer as MSNBC.com.Widzer said that he actually gave $1,000. The FEC records show two separate entries of $1,000 on the same day.
"I'm actually a Republican — one of the few Republicans who still support George Bush and think he's doing OK with the war effort," Widzer said. "One of my friends works for Bill Richardson and asked me to give to the campaign. She knew me from MSNBC, so she listed that."
-----
(D) Salon.com, Gary Kamiya, writer at large and former executive editor, $250 to MoveOn.org, which opposed President Bush, in September 2004.
Kamiya, who now writes a column for Salon, was executive editor when he made the donation. In his column he has urged the impeachment of President Bush, whom he calls "a historic disaster."
Kamiya did not reply to messages. The editor of Salon, Joan Walsh, said he is traveling.
This week, after MSNBC.com called, Salon.com decided to forbid political donations by all editorial staff.
"Salon hasn't had an explicit policy, but the growing importance and credibility of our political coverage convinced us that we needed one," Walsh said in an e-mail. We've told all editorial staff not to donate to candidates, campaigns, parties or groups that give money to candidates, campaigns or parties. We're including all edit staffers because we like to move people around, and come election time, most people contribute to campaign coverage."
The policy went into effect this week, Walsh said, but the editors "have been talking about it for a while."
-----
(D) Salon.com, Katharine Mieszkowski, reporter, $400 in April 2007 to EMILY's List, which gives to Democratic candidates who support abortion rights. Also gave $200 in June 2003 to EMILY's List.
Mieszkowski writes mostly about technology, science and the environment. She has also written on explicitly political topics, including John Kerry, Al Gore, voting machines, Texas textbooks, President Bush's response to Hurricane Katrina, school vouchers and peace movements.
See the previous entry for Salon's new policy.
-----
Magazines:
(D) The Atlantic Monthly, Martha Spaulding, assistant managing editor, $500 to the Democratic National Committee in May 2004.
No longer at The Atlantic, Spaulding said, "It's certainly not the Atlantic's contribution." She said she was not aware that contributions were disclosed on the Internet with a donor's occupation and employer. And she said she didn't understand how any company could forbid political activity by its employees.
The magazine said a tougher policy may be coming.
"Historically, we have not had a formal policy," said spokeswoman Amy Thompson, "and as an institution, The Atlantic is part of ‘no party or clique,’ as our founders put it. Even though we have not implemented an officially codified policy, Atlantic editorial staffers are discouraged from supporting political campaigns.
"We're discussing this issue, and may in fact move toward a formal prohibition on political donations by editorial staffers. Of course, we have always policed any conflicts-of-interest on the part of writers and editors working on political stories."
-----
(D) Business Week, Prudence Crowther, chief copy editor, $200 to John Kerry in April 2004, and another $200 that July.
Crowther said she doesn't think of herself as a newsperson. "I'm not a journalist, so I can't help you. I did obviously contribute to the Kerry campaign."
Business Week policy allows donations for most staff. "Our Code of Journalistic Ethics requires journalists to disclose any potential conflicts of interest and to recuse themselves from stories if a conflict could occur," said spokeswoman Patti Straus. "As a business publication, we don't prohibit campaign contributions."
-----
(D) The Economist, Andreas Kluth, technology correspondent, $500 to John Kerry in May 2004. He is based in San Francisco, covering Silicon Valley.
"In my case, just to be clear, I told the editors about it, and I don't even cover politics," Kluth said in an e-mail. "That said, I do think that journalists can write perfectly fair and balanced pieces as professionals and simultaneously have private opinions, vote, donate, etc. Conflicts of interest such as shareholdings (where press coverage could be seen to lead to personal profit) are delicate, so in all these cases, disclosure seems appropriate. At The Economist we regularly disclose all investments."
-----
(D) The Economist, Joanne Ramos, financial writer, a total of $2,100 in September and December 2005 to Matt Brown, the former Rhode Island secretary of state, a Democrat who ran for the Senate before dropping out amid a fundraising controversy. Ramos has written about banking, corporate pension reform, auditor concentration, the hedge-fund sector, Iraq’s banking system and international accounting standards.
"I'm a finance writer. I don't write about politics," Ramos said. "I'm not sure what the policy is."
-----
(R) Forbes, Jean A. Briggs, assistant managing editor, donations to the Republican National Committee of $250 in March 2007, $250 in December 2005, $250 in February 2004, $250 in February 2003, $250 in March 2002, $250 in February 2001 and $250 in August 2000; as well as $250 to Rick Lazio, House candidate, Republican, in August 2000.
"I don't make campaign contributions," Briggs said. "I'm the assistant managing editor of Forbes magazine. I don't make campaign contributions."
When the contributions were described, she said, "You call that a campaign contribution? It's not putting money into anyone's campaign."
(The Republican National Committee put $25 million into the Bush-Cheney campaign in 2004.)
When asked whether she made these contributions, Briggs said, "I don't believe I have to answer that question. Goodbye. Thank you for your call." And she hung up the phone.
In a follow-up e-mail, Briggs complained that MSNBC.com had not formally requested an interview before calling to ask questions.
Forbes policy allows campaign contributions. Says Monie Begley Feurey, senior vice president, corporate communications: "Forbes has no policy regarding employees' personal contributions to political parties or candidates, but it does encourage any employee to be involved in their communities in any way they choose."
Briggs is also listed as a board member by PERC, the Property and Environment Research Center, which advocates "market solutions to environmental problems." PERC has received funding from ExxonMobil and other oil companies. The organization's Web site says, "She exposes fellow New York journalists to PERC ideas and also brings a journalistic perspective to PERC's board. As a board member, she seeks to help spread the word about PERC's thorough research and fresh ideas."
-----
(R) Forbes, Robert Lenzner, national editor, $1,500 to Kathleen Troia McFarland, House candidate, Republican, in November 2005.
"As a rule, I don't make any political contributions," Lenzner said. "That was before the campaign that started. I never made any other contributions. It was merely a social, personal thing. I do not write about politics. Her husband is a friend of mine. It was contributed on the spur of the moment. I did not make it as a member of Forbes magazine. I don't believe it's a violation of any policy of Forbes magazine."
-----
(D) Forbes, Tatiana Serafin, senior reporter, $202 to John Kerry in April 2004. She covers billionaires, retailing and other topics.
"I don't feel comfortable talking about my politics," Serafin said. "I'd prefer not to answer questions."
-----
(D) Inc., Jane Berentson, editor, $1,000 to the Democratic National Committee in April 2004. Berentson is the senior editor at the magazine.
"Inc. has no prohibition against campaign contributions," she said in an e-mail.
-----
(D) The New Yorker, David Denby, film critic, $1,000 to John Kerry in March 2004, and $250 more in May 2004.
He writes reviews and capsule summaries of films, including Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" (an "epochal documentary"), Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" ("slipshod intellectually"), and "An Unreasonable Man," a documentary on Ralph Nader, whom he apparently hasn't forgiven for getting in the way of the Gore and Kerry presidencies ("a thoughtless man who believes only in himself.")
Denby did not reply to messages.
-----
(D) The New Yorker, Henry Finder, editorial director and books editor, $250 to John Kerry in June 2004.
New Yorker policy allows donations.
"It's an interesting question," Finder said. On the one hand, he said, it's not convincing to think that by abstaining from making a donation, a journalist is "preserving some kind of equilibrium in my head where I don't have opinions. You can't will yourself to be indifferent between chocolate and vanilla.
"If people give, it's in the public realm. How do you justify opacity as somehow making journalism better, to say, we need to preserve an appearance of indifference. That's something like misrepresentation, a dubious form of disguise."
Though he said he could see the "prudential argument," that as an editor you wouldn't want to feed the public perception of bias, he expressed faith in "ordinary reportorial professionalism, that whoever the reporter, they're not writing a piece that will make the world better, in their view, but they're writing the piece that is the piece."
-----
(D) The New Yorker, Tad Friend, Hollywood reporter, $500 to John Kerry in May 2004. Friend is the author of "Lost in Mongolia: Travels in Hollywood and Other Foreign Lands."
Friend did not reply to messages.
-----
(D) The New Yorker, Ann Goldstein, head of the copy department, $500 to MoveOn.org in October 2006.
"That's just me as a private citizen," Goldstein said. As for what the New Yorker's policy might be, she said she hadn't considered it. "I've never thought of myself as working for a news organization."
-----
(D) The New Yorker, Hendrik Hertzberg, senior editor, $2,000 to John Kerry in three payments in 2004. Hertzberg often writes the Comment in the front of the magazine, and was a speechwriter for Jimmy Carter.
Hertzberg, in answer to the question whether he made these donations, sent this reply: "Damn right."
-----
(D) The New Yorker, John Lahr, theater critic, $200 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in June 2006, $250 to the Democratic National Committee in September 2004, and $500 to John Kerry in March 2004.
Sometimes Lahr works an anti-Bush quip into his work. (Such as, to the president, "thinking is a fuse that has to be blown in order for him to do what he wants to do.")
"The whole point about criticism is to stimulate debate," Lahr said. "My biases are transparent, because I express them. One of the implications of your question is that people have no integrity — that people wouldn't be fair.
"What would you have me write? It would be hard to find a sentient person who could take a strong position for what the Republicans have done in the past six years. What are you going to do, take a position for their position on global warming or the war in Iraq? C'mon!
"This is a Puritan folderol. If you scratch farther into the people who make these rules, say at The New York Times, they're all in somebody's pocket."
-----
(D) The New Yorker, Janet Malcolm, writer, 17 donations for $6,700 since 2003 to Democratic campaigns and PACs, including EMILY's List and the Democratic National Committee.
Malcolm did not return phone calls.
-----
(D) The New Yorker, George Packer, the prize-winning war correspondent for the magazine since 2003 and author of the 2005 book "The Assassins' Gate: America in Iraq," $750 to the Democratic National Committee in August 2004, and $250 in July 2005 to Iraq War veteran Paul Hackett, a Democrat who campaigned against the war and for a seat in Congress in Ohio.
"Journalists don't give up their rights as citizens. They can and should vote; they can and should support candidates," Packer said in an e-mail.
"My readers know my views on politics and politicians because I make no secret of them in my comments for The New Yorker and elsewhere. If giving money to a politician prejudiced my ability to think and write honestly, I wouldn't do it. Fortunately, it doesn't."
-----
(D) The New Yorker, Mark Singer, profile writer, $250 in April 2004 to Victory Campaign 2004, which supported America Coming Together, which opposed President Bush. In January 2004, he had written the magazine's profile of Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean.
"I will tell you the truth. I am not a political writer," Singer said. "I got a call in the summer of 2003 from David Remnick because Nick Lemann was going to run the journalism school at Columbia, and he needed someone to cover the Dean campaign. And I tried to avoid doing it, because I don't believe fundamentally in the process by which we elect presidents — obviously it's an insane process. And I had a son who was working in the Dean campaign — he was 17, up in Burlington. It was a conflict of interest. I disclosed in the piece that my son was working for the campaign."
As for the donation, "I knew I was never going to write another political piece in my life. There was a decent interval, or an indecent interval, after the article. I must have rationalized that a get-out-the-vote campaign, there was some distinction — but now that I'm talking to you, I see that there's not a distinction. Obviously I'm a Democrat. I understand the nature of the question you're asking — but it's much easier to influence the outcome of a political election by writing about it than it is by making a contribution.
"I believe very much that writers have to be aware of conflicts of interest in all sorts of situations. Probably there should be a rule against it. But there's a rule against murder. If someone had murdered Hitler — a journalist interviewing him had murdered him — the world would be a better place. As a citizen, I can only feel good about participating in a get-out-the-vote effort to get rid of George Bush, who has been the most destructive president in my lifetime. I certainly don't regret it."
-----
(D) The New Yorker, Judith Thurman, writer, $1,000 to the Democratic National Committee in October 2004. Thurman, who normally writes about books, art and fashion, wrote the magazine's profile of Teresa Heinz Kerry, published on Sept. 27, 2004. Her donation to the Democratic National Committee was recorded on Oct. 7.
Reached at home, Thurman said, "Let me get back to you." She did not call back.
-----
(D) Newsweek, Temma Ehrenfeld, associate editor, $1,000 in June 2006 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. She has been a reporter for Newsweek columnist Jane Bryant Quinn and does her own reporting on science and health topics.
"I don't do political coverage here," Ehrenfeld said. "I report for Jane Bryant Quinn's finance coverage. We write about topics like health insurance, so sometimes we write about legislation. I do write some of my own stories, not political."
-----
(D & R) Newsweek, Jane Bryant Quinn, personal finance columnist, $1,000 to Judy Aydelott, a Democrat who ran for Congress in New York. Previously gave $2,800 in four donations to a Republican, former Rep. Sue Kelly of New York.
"In my case, I gave to dear friends," Quinn said. "They came to me, and I gave. And I gave to both Republicans and Democrats."
A Newsweek spokeswoman described a policy with some room, particularly for freelancers like Quinn.
"We have an expectation that Newsweek journalists will not make any contributions to political campaigns," said Jan Angilella. "Are there exceptions to this general expectation? Yes. Depending on the particular circumstances, including an employee's or freelancer's specific role or responsibility."
-----
(D) Newsweek, Anne Underwood, correspondent on health and medical stories, $1,000 to John Kerry in March 2004. The donation is listed under her married name, Enslow.
"I really don't want to participate in this," Underwood said, hanging up the phone.
-----
(D) Rolling Stone, Jason Fine, deputy managing editor, $280 to the Democratic National Committee in September 2004.
Fine did not reply to messages.
-----
(D) Rolling Stone, David Swanson, assistant editor, $202 to John Kerry in March 2004.
Swanson did not reply to messages. He is now at the company's Men's Journal.
-----
(D) Rolling Stone, Jann Wenner, editor and publisher, $25,000 to the Democratic National Committee in 2006; $20,000 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in 2006; $10,000 to the Democratic National Committee in 2004; $5,000 to committees supporting Bob Casey, a Democrat elected to the Senate from Pennsylvania in 2006; $1,250 to Democracy for America, Democrat Howard Dean's PAC, in 2004; $1,008 to America Coming Together, which opposed President Bush, in 2004; and $500 to Democratic Senate candidate Ned Lamont in Connecticut in 2006.
Although known for music coverage, Rolling Stone covers politics, too. And editor/publisher Wenner is still very much involved in editing the magazine, said publicity director Beth Jacobson.
"We encourage our editors to be active participants in the democratic process," Jacobson said. "We don't operate like a newspaper. We're a magazine with a point of view, and it's clear we have that point of view. People go to Rolling Stone — they know what they're going to get."
-----
(D) Time, Jim Frederick, senior editor, $500 to the Vermont Democratic Party in October 2006.
"At the time I made that donation, I was Time’s Tokyo Bureau Chief. I am currently a senior editor at Time’s European edition, based in London," Frederick said in an e-mail.
Time's policy says, "Employees are free to engage in personal volunteer political activity and contribute personal resources to candidates and parties in any manner consistent with federal, state, and local laws."
-----
(D) U.S. News & World Report, Michael Freeman, researcher, $250 to Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential candidate, in February 2007.
"I'm not a journalist. I work in fact-checking," Freeman said, though he is in the news department. About the policy, he said, "In past years, they've sent that out, and it seemed like it really wasn't clear whether it applied to me or not."
The magazine's policy says employees could be accused of a conflict of interest if they donate, while it doesn't explicitly bar such a donation.
A spokeswoman for U.S. News said the new editor, Brian Kelly, is reviewing the policy.
-----
(D) U.S. News & World Report, Amanda Spake, senior writer, $250 to John Kerry in August 2004. Spake covered public health issues and policy. Now a freelance writer, she is on a fellowship from George Soros' The Open Society Institute to study the health effects of Hurricane Katrina.
"I went to a luncheon for Kerry," Spake said. "I had friends who were organizing that luncheon, and I felt I had to do it."
As for any conflict of interest, she said, "I never covered politics. I covered public health. It did not impact my coverage one bit."
-----
(D) Vanity Fair, Elise O'Shaughnessy, contributing editor, $2,000 to Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean in January 2004.
A spokeswoman for Vanity Fair said that O'Shaughnessy was a contributor to the magazine when she made this donation. She is a former executive editor of Vanity Fair. For a time earlier this year she was editor of Tango magazine for women
"While Vanity Fair does not have a policy regarding its contract writers’ making political contributions, we would expect a writer to recuse himself from any story that presented a conflict of interest or even the appearance of one," said spokeswoman Beth Kseniak.
-----
(D) Vanity Fair, Michael Shnayerson, contributing editor, $2,000 to John Kerry in March 2004. The magazine has described Shnayerson as its de facto environmental editor, because he writes frequently on the topic, but he also has written about the likelihood of hacking of electronic voting machines, Halliburton's war-related profits, anti-terrorism data mining, global warming skeptics and other political topics.
"The fact is that there was no ban on political contributions at Conde Nast publications, at least as best I could determine (nor is there now)," Shnayerson said in an e-mail.
"I did give the matter some thought before I wrote my check, and it seemed to me that this was at worst a gray area, and at best a fairly clear one in favor of making the contribution. ... As a contributing editor, I write four stories a year. One might be about the environment or related to politics; the others might be about anything from a media subject to a fashion designer. This is different from a newspaper writer who covers a political beat, and to me tips the balance in favor of my right, as a citizen, to make any legal political contribution I choose to make."
He added this postscript: "I must say I do wish, in retrospect, that I had that $2,000 back to make a perhaps wiser contribution this go-round!"
Click for related content |
Newspapers:
(in order by approximate daily circulation)
(D) McClatchy Newspapers, Beryl Adcock, news desk chief, Washington bureau, $1,000 to John Kerry in April 2004. (She also gave a total of $650 to the Democratic National Committee in 2002 and 2003.) A blogger called these contributions to the attention of Adcock's bosses, Tony Ridder and Clark Hoyt. (Hoyt is now the public editor at The New York Times.) The bureau, then part of Knight Ridder, was known for its reporting that called into question the rationales for the war in Iraq.
"I was extremely upset and shaken that I had misunderstood something so important, and offered my resignation to Clark so as not to bring any further embarrassment to the company," Adcock said in an e-mail. "He refused it. He and Mr. Ridder both expressed regret that I had misunderstood the policy and had been hurt by it. I had discussed my donations on more than one occasion with more than one other editor here; I'd never made any secret of them, not knowing I wasn't supposed to be doing it. After this emerged, I sure wished that one of those editors had told me — or even told my bosses — so I could have stopped sooner.
"I no longer have a copy of the Knight Ridder ethics policy. Roughly, I recall it saying that employees are permitted to engage in political activity but that if there's a question of a conflict of interest they should discuss it with their supervisors, or something like that. I copy-edit stories and compile our news budgets and other communications with our newspapers, and it did not occur to me that my Washington bosses considered those functions a conflict of interest with making campaign donations.
"I was under the same policy at Knight Ridder's The Charlotte Observer newspaper in North Carolina, where I'd worked before coming to the Washington bureau. There I mostly worked in the features section, so I was confident there was no conflict of interest. I probably should have rethought that when I came to Washington, but I simply read the ethics policy, saw it was the same one I was used to, and my husband and I continued making our occasional donations."
-----
(D) The Wall Street Journal, Krishnan Amantharaman, managing editor of the classroom edition, $500 to Barack Obama in two payments in February and March of 2007.
"I asked for those contributions back," Amantharaman said. "I don't want to comment on this."
-----
(D) The Wall Street Journal, Henny Sender, senior special writer, $300 to John Kerry in May 2004. Sender covers Asia.
"Dow Jones' Code of Conduct does indeed bar news employees from contributing to partisan political organizations," Sender said in an e-mail. "I had been in Asia most of my career and this had never been an issue for me. As soon as I learned of this policy, which was shortly after I made that donation, I asked for and received a refund of my check back from the Kerry campaign. So for me, I wrote the check, realized the mistake, got the money back."
-----
(D) The Wall Street Journal, Eben Shapiro, editor of the Weekend Journal section on Fridays, $1,500 to Democratic Victory 2004 in June 2004.
"The entry you're asking about reflected a purchase of art I made at a fundraiser," Shapiro said in an e-mail. "Shortly afterward, I was reminded of the Dow Jones' Code of Conduct provision barring news employees from contributing to partisan political activities. At that point, I returned the art and my money was refunded. So, while my mistake landed me on the list you're checking, at the end of the day my contribution was erased."
-----
(D) The New York Times, Randy Cohen, ethics columnist, $585 in three donations in August 2004 to MoveOn.org, which conducted get-out-the-vote drives to defeat President Bush. In addition to the syndicated column "The Ethicist" for the Times Magazine, Cohen answers ethics questions for listeners of NPR.
Freelancers like Cohen are covered by the Times policy, which says, "Times readers apply exacting standards to the entire paper. They do not distinguish between staff-written articles and those written by outsiders. Thus as far as possible, freelance contributors to The Times, while not its employees, will be held to the same standards as staff members when they are on Times assignments, including those for the Times Magazine. If they violate these guidelines, they will be denied further assignments."
Cohen said he thought of MoveOn.org as nonpartisan and thought the donation would be allowed even under the strict rule at the Times.
"We admire those colleagues who participate in their communities — help out at the local school, work with Little League, donate to charity," Cohen said in an e-mail. "But no such activity is or can be non-ideological. Few papers would object to a journalist donating to the Boy Scouts or joining the Catholic Church. But the former has an official policy of discriminating against gay children; the latter has views on reproductive rights far more restrictive than those of most Americans. Should reporters be forbidden to support those groups? I’d say not. Unless a group’s activities impinge on a reporter’s beat, the reporter should be free to donate to a wide range of nonprofits. Make a journalist’s charitable giving transparent, and let the readers weigh it as they will.
"Those who do not cover anything, but write a column of opinion should have even more latitude. It is such a writer’s job to make his views explicit. Those donations to nonprofits will no doubt reflect the views he or she is hired to express. In evaluating such civic engagement, it is well to remember that to have an opinion is not to have a bias. To conceal one’s political opinions is not to be without them."
After MSNBC.com checked the names of Times staff and contributors on this list with a spokesperson for the Times, Cohen sent this addendum:
"That said, Times policy does forbid my making such donations, and I will not do so in the future."
Update on June 25: One newspaper has dropped Cohen's column.
-----
(D) The New York Times, Christine Muhlke, deputy editor, style magazine, $500 to John Kerry in June 2004, and $1,800 in two donations in 2004 to Downtown for Democracy, which made independent expenditures to oppose President Bush.
Muhlke referred questions to a Times spokespe