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| (Pictures Courtesy of Jim Bleyer, SSN, TBB) |
The continuing saga of the Tampa Bay Times’ ethics "challenges" inveigled its way into a St. Petersburg City Council race when the newspaper jettisoned its equal-time rule to protect the relationship it has with a local political operative.
That operative, Barry Edwards, is a member of the Poynter Institute of Media Studies Foundation, which owns the Times, still the largest newspaper in Florida. Edwards’ pervasive high-profile presence in political campaigns -- none of which the Times ever opposes -- violates the journalistic ethics its editors have always professed and the Poynter has taught religiously for decades.
