Editorial: Conflict of interest?

The Blade astonished us last Thursday by posting an update of the UT presidential search just moments after the information was released to the public.

As journalists, we’ve done our absolute best to keep you updated, but we were just as taken aback as you by the sudden announcement of the candidates. Luckily, there was one news outlet that had the spring on the news: The Blade released an article a mere three minutes after the news broke, a margin of time that is nothing short of impressive.

To put this achievement in perspective, here’s a play-by-play breakdown of the release times on Jan. 22, the day of the announcement. 10:43 a.m.: public release. 10:46 a.m.: Blade article released. 11:09 a.m.: 13 ABC article released. 12:01 p.m.: IC article released. 3 p.m.: 1370 WSPD article released. 4 p.m.: Toledo Free Press article released.

The real person of admiration, however, is Joseph Zerbey. Zerbey is both the general manager of The Blade and the chair of the presidential search committee, as well as being the Chairman of the UT Board of Trustees. Despite the likely temptation to hand over the information, Zerbey instead managed to inspire the Blade to take other avenues. By refusing to betray the trust of confidentiality put in Zerbey by the search committee, he truly lived up to the expectations put upon him as a member of both the Board of Trustees and The Blade.

Despite knowing that giving information to his editorial staff would improve the quality of the paper and the knowledge they could release to the public, Zerbey restrained himself, a decision that many others might struggle with. For Zerbey to have the kind of information that journalists have been vying for since the search began and withhold it from a paper that he is so integrally involved in is an impressive display of self control. The fact that he was put in such a difficult situation to begin with is an unfortunate result of the positions he holds, one he has chosen to shoulder as an ongoing responsibility of accountability to the community.

Due to the nature of the search, almost all of the information, from the name of the candidates to the number of applicants, was confidential. No one on the search committee was allowed to disclose any of these things before it was released by UT. To our knowledge, no one on the search committee was allowed to disclose anything to news outlets before the public release.

Even if The Blade had been given advance information, there would be no breach of ethics on their part. A journalist’s responsibility is to report the accurate truth to the public in a timely manner; it is not to ensure that the individuals or groups giving them information are fulfilling professional commitments.

Despite this, Zerbey’s unique position has been called into question before and likely will be again. The Blade has addressed concerns on conflicts of interest specifically in a commentary in October, by Jack Lessenberry, Blade ombudsman. Lessenberry points out that Zerbey is not actually in charge of the news side of The Blade, meaning he is incapable of exerting influence on the news side of the paper or passing on information. As far as Lessenberry knows, Zerbey has never given inside information about UT to The Blade.

“If he had,” Lessenberry said in his commentary, “that itself would be an ethical violation of his responsibilities as trustee.”