ETHICS LESSON: THOSE WHO CAN'T, TEACH

This is disgusting on so many levels, I hardly know where to begin.

Eason Jordan, a CNN news exec who was deeply involved in the network's coverage of the kidnapping and murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Danny Pearl, is now romantically involved with Pearl's widow, Mariane, people familiar with the relationship told us yesterday.

This is the Washington Post, not the National Enquirer. (The way you can tell the difference is, the Enquirer has more integrity. They pay for their stories with cash, so the whore relationship is right up front.)

But wait, there's more:

"I'm neither confirming it nor denying it," Matt Furman, a CNN spokesman, told us yesterday. "He's not going to speak. I can tell you we don't discuss the personal matters of any of our employees."

Said Jordan's wife, Susan, "I have absolutely no comment."

Some CNNers mulled the ethical implications of the relationship. Pearl, who earlier this month was turned down for compensation from the 9/11 victims' fund and is appealing, appeared on CNN yesterday with her attorney. "While she's a source, what kind of source is she?" one staffer wondered. "She's a source about her husband's death."

CNN and ethics, all in the same sentence. From the network that pays Howard Kurtz to assess his own publication.

Via Julia at Sisyphus Shrugged.
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