Cox Communications is having their ethics questioned for the actions of at least one of their reporters.

Word is the heat is on the Cox owned Palm Beach Daily News AKA The Shinny Sheet. 

A member of Palm Beach society has gone very public about freebies that columnist Shannon Donnelly is alleged to have received — against the rules of Atlanta-based owner Cox Communications.

Both the Shiny Sheet and The Palm Beach Post are owned by the once-strict company that bans even the swiping of goodie bags at parties.

A New York Times article quotes Paul Pope, son of National Enquirerheiress Lois Pope, as saying that his mother flew Donnelly to Aspen on a private jet and let Donnelly stay at the Popes’ fancy mountain chalet.

Just last year, meanwhile, the Post spent six months investigating the use of a donor’s private plane by now Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg.

In editorials, the paper cited its own investigation as the reason why voters should not cast their ballots for Aronberg.

Neither Joyce Reingold, Daily News publisher, nor Tim Burke, her boss, commented on whether the organization has two sets of standards: One for politicians, and another for its own employees.

Allegations about her taking freebies have haunted Donnelly for years and was even a major topic in the latest well-publicized book about Palm Beach, Laurence Leamer‘s Madness Under The Royal Palms.

Donnelly, who described herself as “saddened” by the allegations told the Times: “The better I do my work, the more I become a target.”

Said Reingold: “It’s a big whisper campaign in a competitive town where people complain if their picture or organization isn’t included enough by us. I think there’s a lot of jealousy about Shannon. She’s a little bit larger than life.”

H/T Gossip Extra

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