Chris Benson, a freelance journalist who works for UPI, justifies his dual role as working as a reporter and volunteering on Democratic state treasurer candidate Erin McClelland's political campaign saying he is open about it. Journalism ethics expert Al Tompkins says it's a conflict of interest no matter whether his campaign work is paid or not.Pennsylvania’s state treasurer race rarely draws national media attention.
“Since I’m not actually reporting technically on what’s going on here , there really is no conflict,” Benson said.Because I do have such a very extensive background with the whole political stuff but especially news media, it just kinda was a nice fit.” Benson said he has made no secret about his political involvement. He further said “there has been no particular conversations” with UPI about his campaign work either.McClelland said, “We have conversations about what is palatable in press and he was on the campaign in the primary to help with that and it was unpaid and I appreciated his help.”
Benson said his involvement in politics goes back 20 years and predates his time in journalism. He justified the dual role he plays by saying he is open about it and he is a contract employee – not a direct employee – of UPI. “You can’t on one hand be involved in the political process and on the other hand be reporting about it,” he said. “Whether he’s being paid or not isn’t the issue. What’s the issue is that he is involved in supporting a candidate and even worse, writing about the candidate. That’s not the role of a journalist. That’s the role of an advocate.”