A question of ethics

Dean Starkman of the Columbia Journalism Review questions ethical decisions made in the past by the new head of The Wall Street Journal's luxury magazine.
The report says new editor Tina Gaudoin, quoted her business partner in a Times of London column and mentioned their business—a small chain of yoga studios—in other columns without telling readers of her interest in it.
Gaudoin was a lifestyle editor and regular columnist for the Times Saturday magazine since 2003 and had written for the paper off and on since at least the late ’90s. Last June, she was named to run the Times’s own magazine for the rich, Luxx, according to the report.
Both The Wall Street Journal and the London Times are owned by News Corp.

Is it the biggest deal in the world? No. The columns, again, are not on the most serious subjects of all time. There doesn’t appear to be a lot of money at stake, and it should be noted that Triyoga is mentioned often in non-News Corp. publications. Also, I have no idea about ethical standards in Britain and Europe; they may be looser than they are here.
But quoting your business partner without disclosing it would be way out-of-bounds at even an average U.S. newspaper. And on this score the Journal isn’t average. Dow Jones & Co., the Journal’s parent, has one of the most restrictive ethics policies in the news business and is not shy about proclaiming that fact.

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