Media Behaving Badly, Part Two

Deadspin once remarked that Minneapolis Star-Tribune columnist Sid Hartman "writes what he feels like writing and doesn't want to be confused with the facts." The Twin Cities' best-known columnist is now appearing in a TV commercial for Sun Country Airlines. One problem: his editors had no idea Hartman had cut the spot. In the commercial, Hartman appears holding a Star Tribune and remarks that he is reading "the greatest newspaper in the world." Said Hartman: "This was a free commercial for the Star Tribune." Although Star Tribune staffers (Hartman among them) appear on radio or TV because their jobs have positioned them as authorities or commentators, managing editor Scott Gillespie said Hartman's TV spot violated company policy. But if Hartman was disciplined for his latest ethical lapse, nobody is talking. Kate Parry, the paper's reader representative, wrote that "Hartman told me for a previous column that his many years in the job make him a special case and the usual standards shouldn't always apply to him. Whatever managers have done in the way of past consequences doesn't appear to be sinking in enough to give Hartman pause before he crosses that line again." Thanks to the Midwest Correspondent.