A major resort in Key West has just offered our Newspaper’s travel editor a free trip down to write a review about them. She’s a great writer who’s been with us for a long time. She won’t quit if we don’t let her go, but she’s definitely earned it. Should we let her go? How would our readers react if they knew the trip was paid for by the resort? How might this affect office morale? Will the other reporters be jealous? Pick a side and argue your point.
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The only problem I see with any of this is that our readers may mistake the review for an add. “But it is an add,” says a voice from the back of the room, “the resort is paying for it.” Wrong. The resort is paying for us to go down and give a review. I’m not afraid of the resort trying to “win over” our travel editor by putting extra towels in the room or offering free bed and breakfast. She’s been with us for awhile and she seems like an ethical person who would give an unbiased review.
As far as the actual editorial goes, she should state that the resort paid for her to go down and her main purpose in going was to give a review. Maybe interviewing a few actual customers could give a real sense of what people think about the resort. Comparing that opinion with her own (and doing a little research on the resort), our travel editor can determine whether the resort was giving her special treatment or not and put that in the review. As a business, the resort would obviously want to get some publicity. If they are a great resort, then a great review will come out of it. It all comes down to being open and honest with the readers, and being an open and honest company with open and honest employees.
Oh, and who cares if the other office members get jealous. It’s no different than us as a company sending our travel editor on a trip to do a review. If they want to go on trips, join the travel field. If not, they need to suck it up and do their jobs to the best of their ability. Not every employee gets equal treatment in terms of “work load” or compensation because not every job is equal and they all entail different requirements and consequences.
I think it’s not a big deal. If she’s earned it, then she should be able to go. When the readers find out that the trip was paid for by the resort, they might be a little bit upset, but without cause. If a food critic went to a restaurant and his or her meal was paid for by the restaurant, does that influence the way the food critic experiences the food? The experiences shouldn’t be much different from that of a person who pays for it themselves, so I think the overall result of the article will be fairly accurate. If we need to, we can send out a press release or disclaimer. Other reporters might be jealous, but we will just have to take a step back and remind them that she deserves this. Let it serve as an example of how hard work and dedication can get you places like this. If the reporter being sent is an honest and good journalist, then the article will serve its purpose to the public. I don’t think we’d be sending her if she wasn’t going to be able to do the article justice. Therefore, I say let’s send her.
I don’t think we should let her go. Though she might have earned it, we have to keep the interests of our readers in mind. Would they be able to believe the travel report of the editor as accurate, or would they believe she is writing a good review as compensation for a paid vacation stay from the resort? Unless paid for by us, the review would be seen as extreme bias in favor of the resort. Would we normally allow that for sports editors? Would they be allowed to write a sports piece on a team in lieu of box, or ground floor, seats paid for by the home team? What about our food critic? Would a 5 star restaurant be allowed to pay for a full course meal for him/her in exchange for a review? Any kind of review for a place of business should be paid for by our company so as to insure the impartiality of it. Our readers want to be able to trust that we are being impartial and providing them with a truthful accounting, having no implications of being bribed for a great appraisal. If we can’t afford to send her ourselves, or anyone else in our employ for that matter, then she doesn’t go. If she has been doing a great job for a long time for us, she will still continue to do so and we can show our appreciation for that with employee incentives, which would be available for other department employees to earn as well.
I think it would be OK if she went. By the resort paying for everything they are paying for the advertisement that they are getting by being reviewed by a news outlet. As long as an honest review was given I think things would be fine. I think for office morale it just shows that your company does reward employees with trips if you work hard and earn your pay. I would definitely agree that fellow coworkers will be jealous. Really who wouldn’t be jealous of someone getting to go on a free trip and get paid to do it? It goes to show that when you are a loyal employee your company can be loyal to you.
I see no reason why we shouldn’t let her go. Stranger things have happened in the world than a travel editor going on a paid trip. Why would the readers get upset? Sure, one or two people in the office might get jealous, but that’s their problem. Just give them a little peanut butter to go with all that jelly and let the travel editor go on the trip.