AJC dining critic flouts a conflict of interest
October 8, 2008 at 4:02 pm by Ken Edelstein in NewsShaun Doty, owner-chef of Shaun’s in Inman Park, has enjoyed loads of favorable reviews from local critics.
Creative Loafing’s Besha Rodell gave the restaurant four stars after it opened in 2007 and Cliff Bostock writes glowingly of Doty’s cooking in this week’s CL. Similar kind words came from Atlanta Magazine.
But the AJC’s Meridith Ford (now Meridith Ford Goldman) may have been the most effusive of all. She declared in her January 2007 review that “there is no other restaurant of this caliber in Atlanta.” And it seems, at least, that a week has seldom gone by since without Goldman offering the restaurant plaudits in a blog post, a “best” this-or-that listing or even in reviews for other restaurants.
That’s why a few eyebrows were raised last month when foodies started hearing that Doty would cater at the AJC critic’s wedding party. Then, on Sept. 25, I practically choked on my chicken livers when the daily ran Goldman’s article gushing about the chefs at her reception, held at South Fulton’s elegant Serenbe community. Ice cream, she said, was provided by Doty, “who was nice enough to make my favorite appetizer from his menu, Sardinian flatbread, as well.”
In the same article, entitled “Feast fit for a bride,” Goldman offered kind words (read: favorable, free publicity) for three other chefs with whom the wedding couple did business.
“Jonathan St. Hilaire and Angie Mosier’s three-tiered cheesecake in lieu of a wedding cake (a tall order) was devoured. My mother is still asking about it.” Hilaire is the executive pastry chef for Bob Amick’s Concentrics restaurant group, which also got a favorable mention in the article.
In a separate July 4 review of Concentric’s Parish in Inman Park — two months before the wedding — Goldman wrote: “St. Hilaire has always proven his mettle as a gifted dessert chef, from his early days at Woodfire Grill to his role as executive pastry chef for Amick, overseeing all Concentrics’ properties.” Mosier, who used to work at Serenbe’s Farmhouse restaurant, has also been lauded by the critic.
The post-wedding article goes on to mention Hilary White’s The Hil restaurant at Serenbe, which was the subject of Goldman’s three-star review in December. She lauds “two towers of the Hil’s pretty cupcakes” at the wedding, and writes that she and her betrothed “spent a few lovely weekends munching our way through Hilary White’s pork shoulder and farm-fresh vegetables at the Hil.”
Ethical purists might disagree, but one could argue that after a decent interval, it’s fair for a critic to engage in personal business with a chef or restaurant she or he reviewed or has written about in another context.
In the case of Doty, there was no such interval. The very first item in a restaurant news section just below the wedding story announced that Shaun’s — of all places — had a new sous chef. The story itself was sandwiched between an April piece in which Goldman named Shaun’s one of the 15 best restaurants in town and an Oct. 2 review of Dogwood, in which she couldn’t help but offer a digression into the “sex appeal” of Doty’s cooking.
At the end of her wedding piece, Goldman offers what she calls a “full disclosure.” “We paid full price,” she writes, “for our wedding and every delicious morsel our guests enjoyed.”
As anyone who’s been through the ritual knows, however, wedding catering jobs — particularly complex ones with multiple chefs — aren’t easily attached to a simple price list. But Goldman expresses little curiosity about whether she got favorable treatment.
“All I know [is that] I was handed a bill, and I paid,” she told me in a brief interview. “As far as I know, I have paid full price.”
The situation brings up so many conflict-of-interest issues that it’s hard to imagine how they could have been overlooked by Goldman or, just as importantly, by her editors.
Imagine if you were asked by the most powerful tastemaker in your industry — someone who truly could make or break your business — to perform a special, personal service for her? You might jump at the opportunity, in hopes that you’d give her the most favorable impression possible. You might also feel like you’re being offered a deal you couldn’t refuse. Did Goldman have any concerns that she, even inadvertently, might have strong-armed chefs to cook for her?
“If I did, I’m certainly sorry to hear that,” she said. Still, no doubts. The “full disclosure,” she insists, inoculates her of any ethical breeches breaches.
“I handled the conflict of interest in the best way we could,” Goldman said. “I’m not holding anything back.” And, she pointed out: “My editors are fully aware of it.”
But there were plenty of other ways Goldman and her editors could have handled the conflict. One would have been to require her to hire only caterers who didn’t employ chefs whose restaurants she’d reviewed or might review in the future — there are plenty of good caterers in Atlanta — and then to bar her from writing about those people.
“So in other words, I don’t get to choose who I want?” Goldman asked. “For the most important day in my life, I don’t get to make a choice?”
If it creates a conflict of interest, of course not! Every profession has its standards, and one standard for journalism is that such conflicts should be mitigated to every reasonable extent possible. The privilege of wielding influence over others’ reputations occasionally does carry with it some personal inconveniences. And all that’s particularly true for a purportedly impartial dining critic, who exercises immense power and must overcome a public already skeptical over whether her judgments may be influenced by such hidden agendas as advertising dollars or friendships.
This isn’t just my idealistic concept. The Association of Food Journalists Code of Ethics states: “food journalists should not use their positions to win favors for themselves or for others.” Doesn’t it violate that code to hire the people you write about (and continue to write about), and then to give them free publicity in an article?
Goldman responded to my questions by casting out a red herring. “If you want to make a big fuss about it, you can start with the fact that your dining critic is married to a local chef,” she harrumphed.
CL Food Editor Besha Rodell is married to local chef Ryan Stewart — a fact we’ve disclosed at every opportunity (most recently here). But there are two fundamental differences in the way Goldman and the AJC handled their conflict and the way Besha and CL addressed ours. And Goldman I-know-you-are-but-what-am-I defense begs for a comparison:
* While Goldman could have taken pretty painless steps to avoid the conflict of interest (I mentioned one option above), it’s not reasonable to expect Rodell to divorce her husband or to, say, bar her husband from working. Still, she doesn’t need to write about him, and she hasn’t.
* And unlike Goldman, Rodell took every step to mitigate the conflict rather than to exacerbate it. For example, when Bostock, a freelancer for CL, told Rodell last year that he planned to write in his Grazing column for the first time about a restaurant where Stewart worked, Rodell withheld from Bostock that Stewart was her husband and went so far as to concoct a reason that another editor would edit his column that week. That way we could be sure that the edited version of Bostock’s story hadn’t been influenced by Rodell’s connection.
This is pretty basic stuff for journalists who take their credibility seriously. And the example Goldman raised does show that editors and critics sometimes do have to navigate difficult ethical waters, but can do so with a little creativity and by sticking to their principles.
I couldn’t get AJC editors to discuss why they allowed their dining critic to do business with and offer free publicity to chefs she regularly covers — or even to defend the decisions. Goldman’s usual supervisor, Managing Editor for News & Information Michael Lupo, was out of town. His voicemail referred me to Associate Managing Editor Shawn McIntosh, who said in an e-mail exchange that she was reviewing the situation. But, she added, “since it’s a personnel matter, I won’t have any comment.”
It doesn’t seem seems unfair to dismiss this as a personnel matter, however. Yes, Goldman’s choices can be questioned. But it shouldn’t be pawned off entirely on the writer. As she said: The editors had to know about the multiple conflicts of interest when they allowed her article publicizing her wedding caterers to be published. Wasn’t it the paper’s responsibility to mitigate that conflict rather than to abet it?
On the other hand, there’s no reason to question actions of the chefs and restaurants Goldman wrote about. After all, they’re not obligated to ensure that the AJC follows professional standards. Their job is to do what’s right for their businesses, part of which involves cultivating a good relationship with the daily’s dining critic.
Indeed, the chefs and restaurateurs are, along with the AJC’s readers, the people who lose out when the most important media outlet in town fails to manage such a conflict of interest. At least some of the food-industry people involved weren’t particularly eager to talk to me about this issue. That’s understandable when you figure that no chef in town wants to be quoted criticizing Goldman.
But a little story about a wedding I attended last weekend at Serenbe sheds light on how Goldman’s actions really can affect the restaurant community. The groom — CL’s Andisheh Nouraee — became concerned before the wedding because he’d heard through the grapevine that Goldman was getting special treatment. It turned out that she wasn’t getting special treatment in the way he’d thought.
While trying to find out more, however, he was told by a member of the Serenbe staff that she wasn’t surprised by the high level of talent falling all over itself to help with Goldman’s wedding.
“It’s Meredith Ford, the food critic from the AJC,” she told Andy. “Shaun is doing some of the appetizers and The Inn [at Serenbe] is doing some of the entrees. Everybody wants a good write-up.”
Editor’s note: A comment has been removed from this post because the editors found it to be an invasion of privacy.
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October 8th, 2008 at 4:47 pm
see comments section at http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/9/622457/restaurant/Midtown/Dogwood-Atlanta for more on conflicts of interest
October 9th, 2008 at 3:47 am
It was her WEDDING, not a cocktail party. This woman used her local knowledge to provide what she thought would be the best for HER day.
Moving on…I don’t get what all the fuss is about.
October 9th, 2008 at 6:47 am
Pot:
When you or your staff write about an AJC writer, you rarely mention the disputes between Cox and CL.
Kettle:
Goldman discloses a conflict, but not to your satisfaction.
October 9th, 2008 at 9:23 am
Hmm, she wrote the rave reviews of Shaun’s before the wedding catering event, not after, so I’m having trouble considering this to be a significant conflict of interests. I do understand that it would be ethically more sound for a restaurant critic to use a caterer who isn’t a local restaurant chef, but I really don’t see this is a serious breach of public trust.
Nonetheless, I certainly hope Meredith doesn’t devote a full review to Shaun’s in the future — the AJC should use another writer for that. And any mention she makes of Shaun’s in print from now on should include a ‘full disclosure’ statement.
October 9th, 2008 at 12:32 pm
I didn’t realize ethics wore breeches, but I assume ethics can be breached. Spell check isn’t always right.
October 9th, 2008 at 12:39 pm
This is an absolutely stunning breach of newspaper ethics. How can this woman write another story about food in the Atlanta area without everyone knowing she has a vested and declared interest in the restaurant or chef. That is the very definition of bias. She should have realized this conflict of interest and either not contracted with local chefs or moved her wedding to another city where her choices and preferences would not have affected her newspaper’s readers.
October 9th, 2008 at 8:16 pm
I like to think that I’m as interested in ethics as the next person but - man - this story is thin pudding. And, in many cases, pudding that needs a bit of help with grammar and spelling.
You’d have this woman hold her wedding in a strange city, or use vendors so poor that they have never - and will never - merit a mention in the paper.
Disclosure: I have no idea who the heck she is and spend more time reading CL than the AJC>
October 9th, 2008 at 10:20 pm
There is absolutely nothing ethical about this arrangement whatsoever. So, she thinks that she “paid full price?” And what is that price? How much would it cost for me to get Shaun Doty, Jonathan St. Hillaire and the like to cater my wedding? Would they even do it for someone like me? I think not.
Thanks for pointing this out. Unfortunately, I wouldn’t have noticed if it weren’t for this article, since I don’t read her articles any more, as they are practically worthless in terms of advice on where to go to eat. And this review of her own wedding is worth just about as much.
October 10th, 2008 at 8:51 am
sometimes you just got to call a fraud a fraud. period
October 10th, 2008 at 10:55 am
Finally someone on the record and in the media has called MFG out. This is the tip of the iceberg regarding the lack of professionalism and ethics displayed weekly by the AJC and its dining critic.
October 10th, 2008 at 12:23 pm
She knew what she was doing…she just didn’t care and thought everyone would ignore it.
She sold out her reputation for a cheesecake. I hope it was DELISH!
October 10th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
@horrified: Pretty much anyone can get Doty to cater their wedding - one can rent out Shaun’s for events.
@everyone else: There’s a bit of a conflict of interest here, but I don’t think CL is necessarily any better, and not just because of the Rodell/Stewart thing, which should have automatically disqualified the”Best of”, whomever was writing/picking it. I know for a fact y’all choose to not “waste space” on negative reviews, which seems to me as fishy as hiring caterers from your favorite restaurant for your wedding.
October 10th, 2008 at 3:15 pm
@Aurah, what do you call this:
http://atlanta.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/peasant_bistro_bumps_in_the_road/Content?oid=469933
or this:
http://atlanta.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/luckie_food_lounge_luck_runs_out/Content?oid=315314
or this:
http://atlanta.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/strip_tease/Content?oid=12877
I could go on…
October 10th, 2008 at 4:51 pm
So, as a roommate and best friend of a member of the Shaun’s FOH staff, I got the lowdown on this whole drama: she did not pay full price, nowhere near full price. There were hundreds of apps served, more than just flatbread, and various ice creams, and a close friend of mine (and former employee of Shaun’s) was sent to work the wedding. If al of this can be had for what she paid (a little over 150 bucks) then I am really going to have to rethink cooking at home, when I could hire Shaun to do it for me.
The whole situation disgusts me, and I think it is completely unprofessional coming from one of Atlantas most renowned and feared food critics.
October 10th, 2008 at 4:55 pm
I think if anyone IS to blame, it certainly is not the restaurants. Shauns has been receiving deservingly good reviews across the board from multiple publications. If anything is fishy here, it is how MFG went about the situation, which she should have given more thought.
I hate to say it, but it is a bit refreshing to get her on the other side of things… I wonder how the critic is feeling being critiqued.
October 10th, 2008 at 5:00 pm
Now I see why you guys are going bankrupt. Some investigative journalism here. Write about something that matters, you moron. Who frickin cares about this? Your pompous attitude should get your hack ass fired.
October 10th, 2008 at 5:18 pm
How about freedom of press f*ck-o… people are expressing opinions, and concerns… the same is being done on the pages of Access Atlanta - are you trying to put those fires out too? Im thinking the pompous one might be yourself… stick to NPR and get the F*ck over yourself.
October 10th, 2008 at 5:52 pm
So I have something to add as well. St. Hilaire DID IN FACT donate his services and the cake, this is coming directly from a member of his staff, myself. All of us in our bakeshop discussed in depth how this was a conflict of interest and found it to be totally uncalled for.
To bad.
October 11th, 2008 at 1:03 am
The question is, how mch did she pay for it, and how much would the average person had to pay for the same catering?
It’s an incredible lack of ethics by Meridith Ford Goldman. A real newspaper would fire her for this.
October 11th, 2008 at 7:58 am
- funny story, when i worked at shaun’s, the last time i saw MFG in Shaun’s, she was there really late. after several bottles of wine. her, shaun and some of the staff were on the lovely patio and she informed him what he “could” have done to get the fifth star (she gave him 4″). she can’t hold her liquior, and she is a fraud. maybe it’s time for ms. ford to go away.
October 12th, 2008 at 8:02 pm
Would this be such a big ethical breach if the CL staffer also got the special treatment he wanted at Serenbe?
If I remember correctly, Besha didn’t exactly offer full disclosure when her husband’s restaurant came up either. She didn’t lie, but it wasn’t exactly handled in an above board manner. As I reader, I felt icky when I saw her explanation AFTER THE FACT. And Bostock is more than just a freelance writer.
It’s a sticky situation. But all the journalist can do is ask for fair treatment and pay a fair amount. Are you suggesting that Meridith should have said, “no, you’re not charging me enough” and then haggle for a higher price? Puh-leeze.
Her subsequent column wasn’t a Doty rave, but news of a personnel change.
Leave it alone. CL has more things to worry about.
Really!
October 13th, 2008 at 8:12 am
she raves about Shaun’s EVERY week. no one is imagineing this. Shaun’s is mentioned in a positive light every week in the AJC. The sad thing is - it doesn’t translate to numbers. at shaun’s you are kinda busy on fri, sat-packed, and sun brunch is busy. the food at shaun’s is really good, but please look at her recent review of Dogwood, she can’t help but raving about doty’s “sexy” food. Meridith Ford is a fraud. she should be run out of town and sent back to RI, to write reviews of chain restaurants in the providense banner harold or whatever it’s called!!!!
October 13th, 2008 at 10:53 pm
Whoever said that battles in academia are so vicious because the stakes are so low must never have witnessed a food criticism war.
FWIW, I’ve had some excellent meals at Shaun’s, although I don’t get the fuss over the flatbread. I’ve had better.
October 15th, 2008 at 5:40 pm
This makes me sad. As a freelance food writer myself, I can say that there are hundreds of us who would kill to have a full-time food writing gig at a magazine or a newspaper. Newspapers are dying, and food sections and jobs are being cut, so it’s been tough to even find freelance work. This is a blatant conflict of interest. She abused her job, and to me that says she’s not only selfish, but is also not appreciative of her job as a journalist. A journalist’s job is to serve the public with information, not to serve themselves.
October 17th, 2008 at 9:54 pm
Are you serious? The world is falling in and you’re igniting a fire over a dining critic using locals for her wedding? Whoa..how brazen. You pathetic twit. Your life must be peachy if this is at the top of your outrage list. On a journalists salary, she’s supposed to go out of town to wed? Was she supposed to cook her own frickin food? The fact that she didn’t keep it a secret outweighs any ethical question. You haters are pathetic. It’s just food for Christ’s sake … CL, look in the mirror, you’re not all scrubbed clean in ethics territory…you know exactly what I mean, too.
November 10th, 2008 at 8:11 pm
I personally have no respect for the woman. I haven’t cared for her way before this fiasco. I am a server that has worked in several high end establishments. I have seen her hang all over certain chefs who get big time mention (frequently) in the AJC. She told me that she never had to worry about a date(prehusband)because all the chefs were trying to sleep with her to get reviews. How many of the top Atlanta Chefs do you see get bad reviews? Things that make you go ….hhhhmmmmmm!!