In covering hurricane crop damage, was a news program's collaboration with a digital start-up savvy or unwise?
Here's the situation:
A well-respected national news program, AMERICA TODAY, ran six stories examining how recent hurricanes had battered the Southeast of the United States and the debate in Congress over a relief funding bill to help the region recover. One of those stories focused on farmers who were requesting money to help them recover from the drenching rains that destroyed much of their peanut crops.
AMERICA TODAY, which has no correspondents in the Southeast, partnered with a reputable local news digital start-up, Southern Star, to cover the issue. AMERICA TODAY occasionally partnered with other news organizations as a cost effective way to offer more coverage from around the country. Although AMERICA TODAY worked closely with Southern Star’s reporters, producers for AMERICA TODAY had final say over the content of the stories. The producers also educated Southern Star reporters about the program’s editorial standards.
After the series aired, some viewers questioned why the peanut farmers’ financial hardships were highlighted rather than other business owners who had also been impacted by the storms. The critics pointed out that Southern Star was created and solely funded by Peter Nut, one of the region’s wealthiest peanut farmers.
At the end of the program, Southern Star was listed in the credits. But there was no mention of Peter Nut or the fact that he had direct ties to the issue. Peter Nut said that although he funds Southern Star, he is not involved in its editorial decisions. Moreover, he said he was unaware of the peanut crop segment until the story aired.
