The Society for Professional Journalists ethics
committee has "complained in an open letter" to CBS about
having its Olympic announcers wearing Nike-logoed jackets,
according to Larry Stewart of the L.A. TIMES. The letter,
released Saturday, said that CBS has "crossed the line
between professional journalism and commercial endorsements"
by having reporters wear the jackets. Committee Chair Steve
Geimann wrote: "While some say sports is different from
news, I strongly disagree. ... [W]hat's next? White House
and Capitol Hill reporters with Archer Daniels Midland lapel
pins?" CBS Sports spokesperson Dana McClintock called the
Nike deal "a common practice in sports television. It's
really not that big of a deal" (L.A. TIMES, 2/15).
SOME SAY IT IS: Bob Herbert's "In America" column in
Sunday's N.Y. TIMES said one of the "significant stories" of
the Games is the "way that CBS, once the graceful standard-
bearer of the television news industry, somehow managed to
turn its correspondents into walking advertisements for
Nike." The "problem is that any time a corporate sponsor
gets too close to a news operation it erodes the credibility
of that operation. And Nike ... has a history of intruding,
sometimes subtly but most times not, on news operations"
(N.Y. TIMES, 2/15). In DC, Leonard Shapiro called CBS's
jacket deal the "worst move" of the Games (WASHINGTON POST,
2/16). In S.F., Tim Keown called logoed-jackets the "most
disturbing Olympic sight" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 2/14).
