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UM Broadcast Journalism student Adam Winger stands in the Broadcast Newsroom in Don Anderson Hall.

Tattoos: Out in the newsroom
By Bess Davis
J-school Web Reporter

Modern newsroom leaders generally accept employees’ tattoos more readily than most bosses in the business places. That’s good news for the numerous journalism students in Don Anderson Hall who proudly display tattoos on their arms, legs and backs and the bold few with ink art on the hard-to-hide neck and hands.

Sean Breslin, a senior in the print program and the editor-in-chief of the Montana Kaimin, has 15 visible tattoos when wearing his normal work clothes -- pants and a plain colored t-shirt. Add a dress shirt and at least three of his tattoos are still visible, including the raven on his hand, a tribute to Edgar Allan Poe.

Breslin was an intern with The Missoulian in 2006, and said the paper had no problems with his tattoos. He did worry, however, about how sources would react to the art on his arms. Covering a rally for former Sen. Conrad Burns, a Montana Republican with a livestock background, gave him pause, Breslin said.  But he went about his interviews as usual and the story worked out.

“I’ve found that if you conduct yourself professionally, it’s not a problem,” Breslin said.

Visible tattoos have long been taboo in the American workplace, and to many they still are. In anonline survey of employers and employees about body art in the work place, Vault.com found 58 percent of managers said they would be less likely to offer a job to someone with tattoos or piercings other than in the ear. And 18 percent of the tattooed employees and 24 percent of the inked managers who responded said they felt their body art had hurt their career options.

Montana Kaimin advertising representative Ryan Nalty has a tattoo, too, but few people see it.  Nalty, 22, is a senior majoring in business management and subscribes to the idea that he gets to decide who knows about his tattoo.

In 2006, Nalty decided to get a tattoo, but chose to have his futuristic compass rose placed high on his shoulder where he knew it would be fairly ease to conceal.

There is “pretty much no tolerance,” for tattoos in the business management world, Nalty said.

“I have had professors who have said, ‘If you have tattoos on your arm and stuff you have to wear a long-sleeved shirt when you go into an interview,’” Nalty said.

If some corporate dress codes aim to keep employee tattoos out of the public eye, the impulse of many newsrooms is for reporters to dress appropriately to the story they are covering.

Tom Baden, executive editor for The Salt Lake Tribune in Salt Lake City, said some reporters at the paper have tattoos but there has never been a problem with them.

“You want a newsroom that reflects your community,” Baden said. “There are probably some places where wearing a tattoo would not only be appropriate, but would be useful.”

Some news organizations represent communities where tattoos are a part of the culture. The Honolulu Star-Bulletin, for instance, serves a community with a strong history of tattooing, and many Pacific Islanders have tattoos that represent cultural identity.

Star-Bulletin editor Frank Bridgewater said in an e-mail correspondence that his paper has no policy regarding tattoos in the newsroom. “Anyone can have any tattoos they want, anywhere,” he wrote. “It's never been a problem.”

Tattoos do seem anathema to on camera reporting and few, if any, broadcast students have visible art on their skin. But senior R-TV production major Adam Winger shows off artful arms that rival Breslin’s.

Winger worked as an intern at KECI television and never ran into trouble because of his ink. “They didn’t care that I had tattoos,” Winger said.

Because Winger worked behind the cameras, his work in the studio didn’t broadcast his tattoos to the public. But he represented the station outside the building as well.

“I was out in the public, working the live truck and stuff,” he said. “Nobody ever said anything about them.”

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