Columnist Bob Greene resigned from the Chicago Tribune over the weekend, ostensibly for having sex 10 years ago with a young woman who was a source for one of his stories. Kudos to the Tribune for clearly spelling out their ethics policy, which, when summarized, states that a Tribune employee should not engage in relationships or investments that you would not want to read about in a Page One story.
There seems to be a noticeable lack of detail about this story. It broke over the weekend, but the details seem to be strangely absent.
Jim Kirk and Monica Davey, reporters for the Chicago Tribune, are trying to play down talk of a Pulitzer Prize for their investigative piece on the dismissal of Chicago Tribune columnist Bob Greene.
The popular writer resigned under pressure this week after revelations that 10 years ago he had sex with a young woman who was a source for one of his stories.
Reporters Kirk and Davey earned the admiration of investigative journalists across the country by clipping and pasting a company memo, and polishing it into a major 1,500-word expose.
Of course, knowing the details likely won't change the facts of the matter. Greene (apparently) violated a clearly-stated policy, and has had to face the consequences of his actions. What troubles me, though, is that this story has been give such play while being so disturbingly general and devoid of detail. No one is commenting, returning calls, or addressing the facts of the story they themselves released. IS this even a story here? Hard to say, because the Tribune hierarchy is running everything through their attorneys. Absent some hard facts, it would be easy to conclude that someone is hiding something.
