By David SpettThe Daily Northwestern

Most Daily staffers know they are prohibited from working for Northwestern News Network, WNUR News, WNUR Sports and The Northwestern Chronicle. They also cannot write about groups they are in, and they cannot head student groups. But The Daily’s conflict of interest policy, which outlines these restrictions, is about to change.

At an all-editor meeting on Oct. 29, Editor in Chief Ryan Wenzel and Managing Editor Teddy Kider discussed two potential changes. The first would ban reporters from covering similar topics or beats for The Daily and any other publication. The second would ban all staff members from commenting on the paper on a Web site or blog.

The policy is intended in part to prevent Daily staffers from sharing resources with other campus media outlets. The policy promotes competition, and readers win when The Daily has rivals to beat.

The policy’s other purpose is to prevent reporters from covering issues in which they have a stake. This is an attempt to avoid, though it cannot completely prevent, reporters’ biases from affecting coverage. The policy spans a typewritten page. Readers wishing to see it should e-mail me, and I will send it.

The proposed changes seem relatively uncontroversial. At the all-editor meeting, no one opposed the changes, though a few editors said the current policy is hardly enforced.

The advent of several new campus publications means The Daily must ensure that its reporters are not writing about the same issues for other outlets, Wenzel said.

“What if they write City Council for us and wanted to write some opinion piece (on City Council) for another publication?” he said. “How would that reflect on us? How would that create a perception of bias?”

Wenzel mentioned two Daily staffers, Nomaan Merchant and Patrick St. Michel, who also work for recent online upstart North by Northwestern. Neither has written on a topic related to what he covers for The Daily, Wenzel said, so neither would be in violation of the modified policy.

But one Daily staffer has penned a blog,

gossipdesk.blogspot.com, containing sarcastic comments about the paper and some editors. (I’m made fun of, too.) Before joining the staff, Daily editors told the author to cease his commentary on the paper, and he agreed.

Allowing staff members to publish criticism of the paper outside the paper, especially anonymous criticism, hurts morale and creates distrust in the newsroom, Wenzel and Kider said.

“Either have a Web site where you critique The Daily or come be a part of the staff and try to make the newspaper better that way,” Kider said.

I agree. Even the author of Gossipdesk agreed that he should not publicly criticize The Daily while working for it. But the policy is not flawless. The strict ban on working for NNN, The Chron and WNUR News or Sports seems harsh. And, as some editors have said, it’s not right for Daily editors to wax serious about their policies without enforcing them.

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On Oct. 18, former Managing Editor Jerome Pandell wrote a letter saying I should criticize The Daily for its lack of election coverage. He’s right; while a few stories are finally running this week, the election coverage is too little, too late.

I will be stepping down as public editor at the end of this quarter. If you want to succeed me, send me an e-mail and I will provide more details and answer any questions you might have.

My Daily e-mail address isn’t working (blame College Publisher). Please use my NU address below.

Public editor David Spett serves as the readers’ representative. His opinions and conclusions are his own. He can be reached at [email protected].