However, a loved one's employment or activities at times may create a potential or real conflict of interest for the staffer. In those cases, it would be best for the staffer to inform his or her superior of the situation. The staffer should also take steps to avoid such a conflict. For example, if a staffer's wife is the mayor of Shadyvale Township, the staffer should not be making decisions about the paper's coverage of Shadyvale politics. If stocks are held in the names of a staffer's children, the staffer may still may have a conflict of interest if asked to cover that company.
Some people are very close to their cousins, or their neighbors.
Obviously, questions will arise under this code. If a staff member is in doubt about an ethical question, he or she should take the question to the immediate supervisor. Similarly, a staffer should go to the immediate supervisor if he or she seeks an exemption from the ethics code regarding a specific situation. If a staffer disagrees with a supervisor's ruling on an ethical question, the staffer can appeal to the editor or to a person or committee that the editor may designate to hear ethics questions. No staffer will be penalized for making such an appeal.