lwidmer | Words on the Page

Common Sense and the New Freelancer

Posted on August 2, 2011 by lwidmer

Super day yesterday. I managed to get nearly 500 words down on a 1,500-word article and I’ve yet to touch the interviews. It’s going well, amen. I scheduled a few more interviews – three for today – and I hope to have most of these articles at least roughed in by the time I shut…

Things That Make Us Stronger

Posted on August 1, 2011 by lwidmer

Can I just say how predictable some facets of our profession are? I sat nearly idle the last two months. Luckily the projects I had paid enough, but I spent a ton of time on marketing and personal projects. The second I realize our vacation plans are firming up, in come not one, but three…

Things That Make My Head Explode

Posted on July 29, 2011 by lwidmer

It was a good work day yesterday. I stuck to my plan, which was to concentrate on my larger project in the morning and get some new queries out in the afternoon. I received an assignment from a magazine I hadn’t contacted, so that was a nice bonus. I like when they have topics and…

This Job, Not That Job

Posted on July 28, 2011 by lwidmer

Yesterday was another day where I spun my wheels and got very little done. I managed to get one query out before the daughter came home and took me to lunch. Too much time at the mall later, I insisted we come home. I’m not buying anything, and I can’t window shop when all I…

Calling in Reinforcement

Posted on July 27, 2011 by lwidmer

Yesterday proved to be a difficult day to get anything done. I had a dentist appointment in the morning – there went three hours. I got home and the phone rang. Normally, I don’t take personal calls in the middle of the work day, but I hadn’t heard from my sister in a few weeks…

Killing Your Image – Internet Style

Posted on July 26, 2011 by lwidmer

Yesterday was a good day. I finished a small project within an hour in the morning, tweaked another one, and got some really focused queries out the door. I’m excited because I know the queries are spot on. The only thing left is to hope the editors are buying. I managed to get a personal…

Good Monday

Posted on July 25, 2011 by lwidmer

Friday’s temp(Reading from the thermometer sitting outside – in the shade) Busy weekend. We spent much of it in the basement, the temperatures being just part of the reason. Actually, I guess you could say it was the entire reason. We were trying to get more AC to flow upstairs into the northern-facing rooms. Oddly,…

Coming to a Journalistic Head

Posted on July 22, 2011 by lwidmer

Done! It took all day, but I finished my article. I wanted to make this one as good as I could – there were some conflicting study results and I wanted to present all the evidence clearly and with no implications as to whose study was correct. It seemed like a quiet little topic, but…

Pitch Perfect

Posted on July 21, 2011 by lwidmer

Great work day yesterday. I managed to get a good chunk of work done on my article. If my day hadn’t been interrupted by an appointment, I would have finished it. Today, for sure. I worked a little later than usual – 6 pm – because of the interruption. I spent an hour trying to…

Avoiding Ethical Dilemmas

Posted on July 20, 2011 by lwidmer

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…

Devon Ellington

July 20, 2011

What surprises me is that anyone is surprised by the allegations and evidence revealed. That corporation has never had ethics, certainly not in my lifetime, and wouldn't recognize a fact if it hit them with a 2 x 4. That his U.S. television station is allowed to call itself "news" when it's fiction is almost as appalling as what's already been revealed.

My boundary — if I feel the company is unethical or causes harm, I do not take the job. I turned down six figures a few years ago because a Major Company wanted me to create a "lifestyle campaign" for a product that could, literally, kill you.

Did I need the money? Desperately. Am I sorry I turned it down? No.

Cathy Miller

July 20, 2011

I agree, Devon. If it's causes harm or even is simply untrue, I don't care how much money they offer. I've never been offered 6 figures, but have been approached by companies whose products I cannot endorse. I politely decline.

Paula

July 20, 2011

I'd add: Don't let interview subjects see your copy before turning it in.

I've had several control freak interviewees insist on seeing the copy. I explain how that would be breaking a cardinal rule, and what I turn in is not necessarily what the final copy will look like anyway. If they're really annoying I tell them to take it up with my editor.

The only exceptions I've made over the years are pieces with highly technical information (and they only get to see the sections in question) or intensely personal stories, like a piece on a woman undergoing her second battle with breast cancer in less than three years. My editor and I decided she should see it first, since she reveals some very private things. She didn't want to change a word.

I recently had a new-to-me editor play fast and loose with direct quotes. The editor said it was because the subject had a peculiar syntax that might be hard for some readers to understand. Um, you mean the distinctive speech pattern f the interviewee? The editor said "cleaning up" quotes was okay, but this went well beyond cleaning up the occasional subject-verb disagreement. The "edits" dumbed the quotes down to the point it sounded like they were addressing a child. (Way to show respect for your readers.) I put it in writing that I wasn't comfortable with those changes.

I had a writer I trusted steal an idea and try to scoop me. Yes, she got to the editor before I did, but she didn't have the contacts in place to secure the key interview. Instant karma.

Lori

July 20, 2011

Devon, I think the shock is the depths of the allegations. Their tactics are well-known, but I guess decent people assume that even bottom feeders have boundaries. Apparently not.

Cathy, I've been fortunate that the ethical dilemmas I've faced were usually attached to ridiculously low pay, so turning my back was simple. Still, even six figures couldn't make me compromise my standards. I just couldn't live with myself to endorse something I truly don't believe in.

Paula, good one. I can't let them see the articles. Cannot. The article isn't mine to give out – it's the property of the company I'm working for, so they call the shots. And I have had to say that verbatim to one or two people. When they ask – and the nervous or controlling ones do – I offer to show them their quotes. It's allowing them to rephrase before it goes to print, and I'm fine with that, as are most editors.

I had one woman who talked a blue streak through the interview, then at the end said, "I'll need to see the article before you publish it."

Nothing doing, sister. I offered her quotes. She said, "No, I need to approve the entire article."

Needless to say the editor handled that one, because she was so belligerent when I told her I couldn't do that that her own PR rep was apologizing for her behavior. If the editor hadn't been introduced, I would have said, "Well, thank you for your time, but I'll not be using your interview or quotes. Good luck to you."

And that editor, as you know, is dead wrong. You do NOT touch quotes (except for cleaning them up to remove "um" or subject/verb issues). Maybe the way to illustrate that point is to send a note to that editor (whom I wouldn't work for again) in which you quote him saying something close, but nowhere near the same in meaning to what he said about your payment. Tell him you cleaned up his quotes for him. LOL

Ashley

July 20, 2011

It amazes me that many times even journalism students don't understand (or care, perhaps) what plagiarism is. I taught a college course in the spring on media ethics. I had one student who plagiarized two, yes two!, papers. The only two papers she turned in. In an ethics class. I was beyond horrified.

I explained to her when I caught it the first time the plagiarism was wrong and if she didn't understand what it was, to come talk to me or go to the writing center. Lo and behold, she did it again for her second paper. Besides being insulted, I was amazed and saddened.

Sometimes I think people believe that whatever is on the internet is free game. No permission necessary, just take whatever you want. It's just not the case, and it can get you in trouble!

Paula

July 20, 2011

BTW, the two occasions I mentioned in which I might let interviewees see anything prior to turning it in? I only would do that with permission of the editor.

Lori, I love your idea for dealing with the quote-changer. One of that editor's "clarifications" totally missed the point of what the source said. It jumped out when I read the published article and immediately e-mailed the source's publicist and apologized for how that comment was re-worked. (The editor's bracketed "clarification" changed the entire subject of the sentence. Thank goodness they put it in brackets.)

Ashley, I hope you failed the plagiarist.

Ashley

July 20, 2011

Paula: Oh yes, she failed. And was baffled. Which is also beyond me.

Kids today, tsk tsk.

Lori

July 20, 2011

Ashley, that is sad. I do think there's a disconnect between what some people believe to be free information and what is actually copyrighted material. I think journalists and writers (and other creatives, for that matter) should follow one simple rule – if you didn't write it, cite it. To expand on that thought, if you're using it verbatim, cite it. If you didn't write those words you're pasting into a document, cite it. If you don't, you're stealing. And yet it's confusing to some? I wonder.

Exactly, Paula. I've had sources read over technical articles to make sure I'm doing it right, but only if the editor says it's okay. I agree that those instances you mention are the exceptions.

Anne Wayman

July 21, 2011

Agree here, not surprisingly. And for me it boils down to how I feel in my gut.

The idea that the net is free is a twisted interpretation… the idea is that we shouldn't have to pay for content, that information wants to be free – a whole other area of debate, but never an excuse for plagiarism.

I suspect even the NewsCorp people and perhaps Murdoch himself, if they would truly listen to their own still small voice would know they were wrong… and did it anyway.

Miriam S Pia

August 2, 2011

In truth, I agree with the idea that most college students should get a business ethics course. The reason I say this is actually quite humble.

I took a business ethics course. I have held jobs in various environments and run my own small business as a freelancer. Well, you can imagine how embarrassed I felt when I found out that I really didn't know all the rules. There were numerous types of business situations where I didn't even know right from wrong. It is not that I was completely ignorant at all, don't misunderstand but there are a lot of corporate ethics that people can not even know unless they are taught. Also, a corrupt office will teach newcomers 'wrong ways' in some cases: leaving the learner in a bad position.