BusinessReport.com

The biggest media buzz around Baton Rouge these days centers on Business Report Publisher Rolfe McCollister, and his heavy—some say inappropriate—involvement in the campaign and new administration of Gov. Bobby Jindal.

Not that he hasn’t come close before. In addition to being a publisher, McCollister is a political activist. He ran for mayor in 2000 and campaigned heavily for former Gov. Buddy Roemer during both his 1986 election and 1990 re-election bids. To his credit, McCollister has always been honest and up front about what he’s up to and where his allegiances lie. But this time, his critics say, he’s crossed the line.

So where is that line? Did he cross it when he signed on as Jindal’s campaign treasurer last year, or when he agreed after the election to head up the governor-elect’s transition team? Was it when he announced the formation of Believe in Louisiana, a nonprofit group that supports and promotes Jindal’s agenda, or when he fell on the sword for the administration by saying he’d pay the ethics fine with which Jindal was slapped for a campaign finance infraction that McCollister says was his fault?

None of the above? All of them?

Indeed, where is the line when a publisher is concerned? The Manships contributed to Jindal’s campaign and their newspaper, The Advocate, has written editorials supportive of Jindal’s agenda. Did they cross the line? What about when The Advocate covers productions at the Manship Theatre? Is that over the line?

I’ve heard those arguments, and they make for lively debate. One could also make the case that the media crosses ethical lines every day in ways too numerous to count—and there’s no point in even trying to force a standard of objectivity on the media because it’s unrealistic and ultimately impossible to adhere to.

Perhaps. But that still doesn’t justify a publisher’s intense and active involvement with a candidate, much less an elected official. The media—the news media that is, of which Business Report likes to count itself—is supposed to be objective where matters of power and politics are concerned. That’s because the news media has traditionally played the role of watchdog in American society. It is supposed to be skeptical of the party line and is expected to blow the whistle on powerbrokers, be they politicians or big business leaders.

Granted, publishers are different than editors and reporters in the sense that they, themselves, are business executives, CEOs. They are not on the front lines, conducting the interviews and writing the stories and, arguably, do not have to adhere to as strict a standard of objectivity as do their underlings on the editorial staff.

That said, publishers—or station managers—are the ones ultimately responsible for the words that appear in print or the stories that air on TV. Ultimately, the buck stops with them, and even the appearance of a conflict of interest can do much to undermine the credibility of their media organization. However many times they might deny it, readers or viewers will be skeptical, knowing that publisher’s agenda is one with the governor’s.

Already, there is what appears to be evidence of political payback. Julio Melara —the president of Business Report—was named by Jindal to the Superdome Commission, which coincidentally was reported in the daily newspaper on the same day as was the announcement about the formation of Believe in Louisiana. Though there’s no reason to suggest there is anything wrong with the appointment, the mere appearance that it was patronage smacked of the kind of cronyism Business Report has decried for years.

For his part, McCollister vows his political leanings will not have any bearing on the way Business Report covers the new administration. He correctly points out that he has never before tried to influence how or what writers or contributors say in their stories and columns. This time, he says, will be no different. That is to his credit, and we will take him at his word.

But McCollister has never before been so tightly involved and on so many levels with a sitting governor. The simple limitations of human nature suggest it will be difficult to be a publisher and a player. That’s what makes it different this time, and why McCollister’s critics may be justified in suggesting he has crossed the line.