Why BuzzFeed's ethics guide is an incoherent mess

Some kinds of political partisanship are bad. Others are good. How come?

BuzzFeed office
(Image credit: REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/Files)

BuzzFeed recently got in a bit of hot water over one of its reporters' tweets endorsing gun control in the aftermath of the mass shooting in Louisiana. Opponents of gun control pointed to the publication's ethics guide, which contains an outright ban on political partisanship in public forums, including Twitter and Facebook. The reporter apologized.

It was a minor controversy. But the position of BuzzFeed's ethics guide on political partisanship — which apparently means overt, personal support for a party, candidate, or policy — is totally indefensible. This brand of journalism is both deeply dishonest and susceptible to all kinds of corruption.

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Ryan Cooper

Ryan Cooper is a national correspondent at TheWeek.com. His work has appeared in the Washington Monthly, The New Republic, and the Washington Post.