Not long ago, I had a conversation with a potential client at a trade show. The prospect was indicating a strong need for my services, and he promised to call me the following week. When that call came, I was prepared. Since the prospect had told me his needs — thought leadership articles — I…
Tag: ethics
Writing Without Racism
This shouldn’t be a difficult post to write. And yet, it is. In 2020, we all watched it happen. As we watched a man murdered, we watched something else happen, too. Our world woke up to what millions of people have already known — racism is alive and festering. Worse, in the last decade, it…
The Return to Balance: A Freelance Writer’s Quest
Last week we had an important and lively discussion over the Fight for Truth and what the freelance writer’s role was. One point in particular drove a ton of discussion — presenting all sides of a topic. My stance was/is that presenting dissenting views shouldn’t be avoided, but embraced. It’s common practice in journalism to…
The Fight for Truth: A Freelancer’s Role
Not long ago, I had an assignment from a client that involved a little bit of research. They wanted some statistics to go along with the article and support their point. I came across a fantastic bit of data. In one sentence, I could have proven their case and made them look like authorities. For…
The Ethics of Freelance Writing
You can’t believe everything you read. I was on Amazon shopping for a microphone about a month ago. I sorted results by Average Customer Review, and bought one based on the 9 glowing reviews one microphone received. Too bad they were fake reviews. Oh, I did my homework. I looked for the “verified purchase” tag…
The Freelancer and The Ethical Boundary
What I’m listening to: Can’t Stop the Feeling! by Justin Timberlake A year or so ago, I had an unpleasant encounter with an editor that didn’t end well. Normally, I wouldn’t talk about such things openly, but there’s a lesson in here that all freelance writers should be learning. It’s about how much control clients…
Freelance Writer’s Ethical Guide
What I’m listening to: Jungle Love by Morris Day and The Time I had a conversation yesterday with a writer friend who shares similar opinions. In fact, if I want to have a conversation with someone who doesn’t share my opinion, I’d rather it be in person. Too many people out there with keyboard muscles. In…
Avoiding Ethical Dilemmas
Nice, busy day yesterday. I managed through a small project in the morning, a large section of an even larger project, then spent the afternoon putting together a press release. I did a bit of research for my article, and today I’m ready to write it. That in itself is an event. I have this…
Our Business Model is You’re Wrong
Thanks to Sid Prince for sending me a link to a Wall Street Journal article that’s a mirror image to my ongoing eFax problem. In the article, Jason Zweig relates his story about a defunct AOL account that had somehow incurred charges. When he received a call from a collection agency, Jason decided to call…
Ethics and Common Sense
Writer friend and I were talking about journalistic ethics again. It’s a topic we bring up on occasion, and it’s one that leaves us both shaking our heads. We mainly lament the lack of ethics courses in various college journalism/media concentrations. We wonder out loud and to each other, where exactly do these new journalists…