Reporter’s Notebook

9/3/04

In our coverage of the two conventions this summer, we talked a lot about the parties and perks bestowed on delegates, donors, and elected officials. But the media got plenty of perks, too. Both in Boston and New York, we were treated to lavish welcome parties, discounts, and freebies. And one can rightly ask how the parties we attended and the gifts we received influenced our coverage.

The Boston Host Committee spent $800 thousand on its media bash, which featured an indoor ferris wheel, performances by Cirque du Soleil and Little Richard, and among other delicacies…fountains of chocolate. Highlights of New York’s $1.5 million affair at the Time Warner Center included an appearance by boxing promoter Don King and discounts at the center’s tony shops.

At the convention media center, though, New York outdid itself. An on-site spa provided journalists with free massages, facials, and pedicures. A concierge service, staffed by the best local hotels, helped visiting reporters book theater tickets and dining reservations.

And then there were the gift bags.

In Boston, we received a canvas tote brimming with maps and books, plus a Gillette razor (male or female), a packet of Dunkin’ Donuts coffee grounds, and the now infamous box of commemorative donkey-shaped Kraft Macaroni and Cheese.

In New York, a New Balance shoulder bag yielded a disposable 35 mm camera, an AstraZeneca pedometer, a free one-week membership to the New York Sports Clubs, two pre-paid 60-minute phone cards from competitors Verizon and IDT, and, in a display of bi-partisanship by Kraft, a box of elephant-shaped mac and cheese.

I accepted both gift bags, if only to take inventory and give them away. (Although I’ll admit to you here and now, I did eat the M&Ms.) Most news organizations have policies about what their staff can and cannot accept. Marketplace allows us to accept the occasional gift of “nominal” value, meaning woth no more than about $30. And I believe the one cocktail I consumed at a party sponsored by the Economist magazine, along with some cheese and crackers and that pack of M&Ms, probably won’t compromise my reporting. But as our company policy asserts, we should “bend over backwards” to avoid even the suspicion of a conflict of interest.

Ostensibly the cities of Boston and New York, not the political parties, provided most of the convention treats, in a show of hospitality. But look behind those host committees, at the names on the sponsorship signs and the logos printed on the loot, and you’ll see who really paid the bills: the likes of Bank of America, IBM, Verizon, AT&T, Fidelity, Altria, American Express, and dozens more.

By the logic of one lobbyist I talked to, that’s exactly why you don’t have to worry about conflicts of interest. As he put it, there are downright too many sponsors to curry any particular favor. I don’t really buy that. But I do know that the massage tables at the media spa were booked solid with journalists covering the very event that paid for that luxury. Personally, I think we're better off with sore shoulders.