Debate

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Notes

This essay was inspired in part by conversations with Dr. Mark Feldstein of George Washington University and my wife, Rachel Gorlin. I want to thank them for their insights, while stressing that any misjudgments and factual errors in the article are strictly my own.

The University of Maryland and its College of Journalism tapped success‐story Blair for recruiting ads and fund‐raisers, even though he had failed to graduate.

Interestingly, though, NBC reporter Maria Shriver was pressured to quit when her husband, muscle‐man actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, became Governor of California in 2003. The logic of the networks seems to be as follows: The celebrity journalist draws ratings. So she can keep working after marrying a newsmaker—unless the newsmaker begins seriously to outshine her. In such a case, she is locked in a “conflict of interest” and must go. The network is not really concerned about the ethical problem, though. It just does not want to shine less brightly because some uber‐celebrity has eclipsed one of its own.