'Playing by the Rules: Ethics at Work' Returns to Public Television Beginning October 2 With New Investigations Into the Business Practices of Ride-Sharing App Uber and Sneaker Giant Adidas

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Oct 01, 2019, 09:05 ET

NEW YORK, Oct. 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Ethical decision-making is a critical skill in the modern workplace, one that can sometimes determine the fate of a company. WNET, parent company of New York's PBS stations THIRTEEN and WLIW and operator of NJTV, continues to share lessons learned from questionable business practices in season three of the documentary series Playing by the Rules: Ethics at Work premiering nationwide beginning October 2 on public television (check local listings). In New York, the series premieres Thursdays, October 3-October 17 at 7:30 p.m. on WLIW and Sundays, October 6-October 20 at 7:00 p.m. on THIRTEEN.

Hosted by The New Yorker staff writer and former hedge fund analyst Sheelah Kolhatkar, Playing by the Rules investigates corporate controversies through original reporting and interviews with company insiders.

Episode 1: Driven
Under its original CEO and co-founder Travis Kalanick, Uber epitomized the Silicon Valley business philosophy of "move fast and break things." In a mere seven years, driven to win at all costs, Uber grew into a company worth more than $75 billion. While much of that growth was the result of having developed a new and popular service, it was also a result of having pushed ethical and legal boundaries. With consumers and investors increasingly sensitive as to how companies make their money, Uber has become a case study in the impact of reputational damage and how non-traditional business risks affect a company's public image.

Episode 2: Pay to Play
Explore a scandal that exposed an underground market for the nation's most talented teen basketball players with colleges competing to recruit them using secret payoffs. Prosecutors allege that some of these payoffs were bankrolled by Adidas, one of the world's biggest sneaker companies, through a program known to some inside the company as "Black Ops." Playing by the Rules visits the University of Louisville, whose basketball program and former coach Rick Pitino were at the center of the storm. The film poses ethical questions about leadership and oversight.

Episode 3: Lessons Learned
Over three seasons, Playing by the Rules has reported on corporate controversies including the emissions fraud committed by Volkswagen, the Wells Fargo banking scandal and the "ninja mortgage" scandal exposed by a whistleblower at Citi Mortgage. Each company failed at business ethics. Professor Katherine Phillips, director of the Bernstein Center for Leadership and Ethics at Columbia Business School, explains what these situations had in common and the lessons learned.

Season 3 will stream at wliw.org/programs/playing-rules-ethics-work and the THIRTEEN Explore app beginning October 3, and past episodes are available now.

Playing by the Rules: Ethics at Work is a production of WLIW LLC for WNET. Bryan Myers is the series producer and director. Diane Masciale is vice president and general manager of WLIW and executive producer of local production, including the Playing by the Rules series. Stephen Segaller is executive in charge. Distributed nationally by American Public Television.

Major funding for Playing by the Rules: Ethics at Work was provided by Ronnie and Lawrence D. Ackman and Janet Prindle Seidler. Additional funding was provided by the Charles H. Revson Foundation.

Websites: wnet.org / wliw.org / thirteen.org
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Twitter: @WLIW21 / @ThirteenWNET / @wnet

About WNET
WNET is America's flagship PBS station: parent company of New York's THIRTEEN and WLIW21 and operator of NJTV, the statewide public media network in New Jersey. Through its new ALL ARTS multi-platform initiative, its broadcast channels, three cable services (THIRTEEN PBSKids, Create and World) and online streaming sites, WNET brings quality arts, education and public affairs programming to more than five million viewers each month. WNET produces and presents a wide range of acclaimed PBS series, including Nature, Great Performances, American Masters, PBS NewsHour Weekend, and the nightly interview program Amanpour and Company. In addition, WNET produces numerous documentaries, children's programs, and local news and cultural offerings, as well as multi-platform initiatives addressing poverty and climate. Through THIRTEEN Passport and WLIW Passport, station members can stream new and archival THIRTEEN, WLIW and PBS programming anytime, anywhere.

About APT
American Public Television (APT) is the leading syndicator of high-quality, top-rated programming to the nation's public television stations. Founded in 1961, APT distributes 250 new program titles per year and one-fourth of the top 100 highest-rated public television titles in the U.S. APT's diverse catalog includes prominent documentaries, performance, news and current affairs programs, dramas, how-to programs, children's series and classic movies. America's Test Kitchen From Cook's Illustrated, Cook's Country, AfroPoP, Rick Steves' Europe, Christopher Kimball's Milk Street Television, Front and Center, Doc Martin, Nightly Business Report, Midsomer Murders, Lidia's Kitchen, Kevin Belton's New Orleans Kitchen, Simply Ming, The Best of the Joy of Painting with Bob Ross, and P. Allen Smith's Garden Home are a sampling of APT's programs, considered some of the most popular on public television. APT also licenses programs internationally through its APT Worldwide service and distributes Create^®TV — featuring the best of public television's lifestyle programming — and WORLD™, public television's premier news, science and documentary channel. To find out more about APT's programs and services, visit APTonline.org.