Media Watchdog Eric Boehlert blasts out of the gate this morning with an incisive critique of a longstanding, problematic relationship between NPR and Fox News. Please go to Eric’s post “According to its ethics code, NPR still
has a problem” at MediaMattersForAmerica to read the entire story, which he has been covering for several years. The elements of the story are complex and the implications of the story are quite damning.
A Problem of Brandividuals
In addition to many other important points Boehlert raises about news vs. politicized rhetoric, about the politics that deter NPR from right action, and more, the NPR vs. Fox “News” conflict demonstrates the downside of Brandividuals.
Brandividuals are employees who represent their personal reputations/brands as well as the organization’s reputation/brand to establish their expertise and credibility. As employees, brandividuals are effective because they draw on either their personal brand, their organization’s brand, or both, to establish their relationship with stakeholders.
InAuthentic Ethical Commitment by the Organization
At the meta-level is NPR’s ethical problem. Boehlert outlines how NPR, an organization with well-defined non-partisan identity and a clear ethics policy, allows two of its well-known journalists to appear regularly on Fox “news” programs as paid contributors. These two journalists, Mara Liasson and Juan Williams, are usually identified as NPR correspondents when they appear on Fox News.
Boehlert takes NPR to task for allowing this ongoing violation of its own ethics polices:
Public broadcasting guidelines clearly state that when appearing on outside programs “journalists should not express views they would not air in their role as an NPR journalist.” And, “They should not participate in shows electronic forums, or blogs that encourage punditry and speculation rather than fact-based analysis.”
The activity of these two brandividuals, Liasson and Williams, violates their main and original employer’s ethics policy. Yet, their employer is doing little to resolve this problem. This raises the question:
Is NPR really committed to being an ethical news organization? Is NPR being authentic?
Lack of Accountability & Responsibility by the Employees
Boehlert emphasizes the responsibility of NPR for the behavior of its own employees. Yet, in addition to the organization’s reluctance to act responsibly, we also see a lack of responsibility by the employees.
Consider this situation from the perspective of brandividualism and the ongoing challenge of balancing of the individual’s personal brand/reputation and the reputation of the organization that employs them: [click to continue…]
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Collateral Reputation Damage® is damage done to an organization’s reputation when advocacy by individuals or groups who may or may not be associated with the organization is interpreted by stakeholders as being actions by the organization itself.
I am an organizational identity and reputation scholar with a PhD in leadership & organizations. I research, write, teach and consult with organizations about the relationships between organizational identity, actions, and purpose. See the 
