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Foxnews.com...
Cain Offers Ethics
Reminder to Reporters in Pushback Over Sex Harassment Allegations
November 06, 2011
Attempting to turn reports of sexual harassment allegations back on the
media, the campaign for Republican presidential contender Herman Cain
is targeting journalists by passing out a code of ethics offering
guidelines on how to report stories.
On Sunday, Cain campaign spokesman J.D. Gordon emailed passages from
the Society of Professional Journalist Code of Ethics that highlighted
limiting the use of anonymous sources and evaluating their truthfulness
and motives before allowing their use.
The code also offered a few reminders like removing arrogance from
reporting, showing good taste, being accountable, not pandering to
lurid curiosity, treating subjects of stories as reporters would like
to be treated and exposing unethical behavior by fellow reporters.
With the media just slightly above Congress in public opinion polls of
trustworthy institutions, the Cain team is hoping to capitalize on
distrust as it fights back against coverage of sexual harassment claims
by two women at the National Restaurant Association where Cain was CEO
from 1996-1999.
The low-level staffers are bound by confidentiality agreements, and
despite efforts by one woman’s lawyer to get her released from that
non-disclosure rule, she issued an anonymous statement Friday calling
the allegations very serious.
Issuing an email solicitation on Saturday, Cain asked donors to
contribute toward his goal of raising $999,000 -- keying off his 9-9-9
economic plan -- by next Thursday so Cain can compete in the Iowa
caucuses scheduled for Jan. 3.
In the appeal, Cain noted the “attacks” and said his campaign still has
momentum.
“Every time someone makes a donation to my campaign it shows the media
and my opponents that the American people are fed up with the politics
of personal destruction and they are demanding real change in
Washington,” the email reads.
But the story is having an impact. According to a Reuters/Ipsos poll,
in the last week, Cain has lost 9 points in his favorability rating
with Republicans. A week ago his favorability ranked at 66 percent in
the poll, he’s now down to 57 percent. Among all registered voters in
the poll released Friday, he dropped 5 percentage points to 32 percent
from 37 percent.
However, as far as favorability rankings go, Cain still holds his own
against President Obama, ranking 46-41 in polls of 937 registered
voters one year out from the election. The margin of error is 3.2
percent in the poll.
Separately, a Washington Post-ABC News survey taken after the
allegations emerged last Sunday showed Cain and former Massachusetts
Gov. Mitt Romney running almost even with seven in 10 Republicans
saying the reports don’t matter when it comes to picking a candidate.
Cain’s opponents said the sex harassment allegations are irrelevant to
the race for the White House, though they are a distraction.
Read the rest of this story and more at Foxnews.com
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