Washington Times Continues Unethical Relationship With National Rifle Association
Posted in Main Blog (All Posts) on October 2nd, 2014 11:08 pm by HL
Washington Times Continues Unethical Relationship With National Rifle Association
After originally excluding mention of opinion editor David Keene’s ongoing relationship with the National Rifle Association in his most recent piece for the paper, the Washington Times quietly added the disclosure after being contacted by Media Matters.
In a September 29 commentary, Keene wrote about the fight over gun legislation in Colorado, echoing the NRA’s own messaging in the state. Keene, a former NRA president and current board member, is, according to the Times’ own standards, “free to write about the NRA in his personal weekly column as long as he discloses to the reader in that column his continuing role with the organization.” But his ongoing relationship with the gun group was originally missing from the column.
At the bottom of the original commentary, which appeared online and was the top-billed opinion piece in the print edition of the conservative paper, the following note was appended: “David A. Keene is opinion editor of The Washington Times.”
Media Matters contacted Times editor John Solomon to ask about the omission, only hearing back after the column had been updated to read: “David A. Keene is opinion editor of The Washington Times. He is a former president and current board member of the National Rifle Association.” (Solomon responded that the version he was viewing “has his role as current board member.”)
Keene became the Times opinion editor in July 2013 after serving as NRA president between 2011 and 2013. According to the NRA, Keene has served on the group’s board of directors since 2000.
After Keene described participating in the crafting of the NRA’s 2014 midterm election strategy in a February 2014 interview with The Washington Examiner, Media Matters investigative reporter Joe Strupp asked Solomon whether Keene’s continuing role with the NRA created a conflict of interest on the Times’ opinion page.
While acknowledging Keene’s ongoing NRA role, Solomon said, “Our ethics rules allow an employee in special circumstances to hold an outside position, if it is pre-approved and the appropriate ethical steps are followed. That’s the case with David Keene and his membership on the board of the NRA. We knew when we asked David to be our opinion editor that he would continue on the NRA board. We also knew that his role with the NRA was publicly and extensively known.”
Among the “set of rules” that Keene is supposed to follow, Solomon said, “He is free to write about the NRA in his personal weekly column as long as he discloses to the reader in that column his continuing role with the organization.”
