Ethics question...need advice

[architectlink]

I did a search here for an ethics thread, NONE found!

I'd like to start this thread for persons with questions about ethics. I have an issue I'd like responses on, and anyone else who has an ethics question, please feel free to post as well.

[wigginsmum]

What's your issue?

Jules

[architectlink]

I wanted to ask a confidential question. I've been paid to write 4 articles for a local Magazine and have done the research and turned 3 of the 4 articles in. I was asked to generate 1500 word articles with quotes and good photos from various builders on various design subjects. I supplied articles which were much more labor intensive and over 4500 words.

I was shocked to find out while on vacation ithat the second article was rewritten (using mostly my quotes and ideas) and changed around a bit and signed by someone else. My name was not mentioned. It was not as well written as what I had submitted.

I've heard from several other people that this is a common thing done by editors and publishers. Not sure how to handle it. The pay is not very good ($400 per story) and I am mostly doing this to keep up my resume. I think I should at least get credit for doing all the research. The people I interviewed must also be questioning why someone else's name is on the article.

[wigginsmum]

What were the terms under which you agreed to write? If there's nothing in writing, all you could do is call the editor and ask them to explain; what they've done sounds like theft to me. If you don't get an answer that satisfies you, then chalk it up to experience and don't write any more for that magazine.

Jules

[RobinB]

Do you have the check stub--does it specify payment for 4 articles? That could help. Unless you agreed to "work for hire," the copyright still belongs to you.

[seeker42]

The reason why there is no "ethics" thread or section is not because it is ignored, but rather because the issue and struggles of Ethics are so much an everyday issue for Christians that they are woven into the fabric of the threads and conversations that are already taking place.

Therefore the absence of the thread does not mean that it is not important. ON the contrary, it means that ethics are so important that they are discussed as a natural and integrated part of the other issues.


Seeker
:):

[seeker42]

Writing articles under the name of someone else is a common practice in all fields related to publishing. What is even More customary is to have the person who is doing research not be mentioned at all. So there is the question of whether or not your work is understood by others to be "research" or "background" - even if it is writing.

By definition Background or "research" is not the dictionary definition. "Background" is the work and research of all persons...EXCEPT the person who has the byline.

Byline is the issue. What people want is credit and status. That is the golden prize. When a columnist is hired and Where they have a Byline, they are often hired with the understanding that they will have complete Veto over all aspects of other writers who contribute to their final work-product, regardless of what you were told, and regardless of who hired you.

What regulates your work and your job is not your contract, but the contract which supercedes it, which would be the contract between the publisher and the person whose name OFFICIALLY belongs on the Byline.

Byline is fought for pretty hard...and those who have it do not want to share it with others, for the same reason that THEY fought very hard to get it.

Probably the most you can request is that they consider adding your name in at the bottom saying "X also contributed to this article" or "Background research by Y", and if they agree to this within 4 to 6 months, that would be real progress.

At your initial interview, you were evaluated not only for your writing skills, but also for your knowledge of how the publishing world works. So now - you are actually finding out.

You will find that they have "Kill" fees also, where they pay you to do the research and write the story, but agree to pay you as a condition of NOT publishing it. That way, you have been paid, they own the rights to the story, and it cannot be published by others.

Your articles will routinely be rewritten...they have to be...it is the implicit understanding that the person who Has the byline will be doing this...to "improve" your article (read "justifying their job").

And if your article was well written, that may suggest a higher level of vocabulary. Magazines have implicit reading levels. If your research or your article was above the demographic, those words or the phrasing would be kicked out [edited] of the article.


Good luck.


Seeker


P.S: you ARE being given credit for the article...because you are being paid...you are simply not being given "OFFICIAL" credit.

[architectlink]

great advice...thanks.

I heard from another great writer in the area who told me what happened is highly unethical and that I should firmly remind the editor that using 20 of my exact quotes and paragraphs (more than half the article) constitutes crediting me.

Will keep you posted. Thanks for the great advice.

PS I'm asking them to church on Sunday. Praying the Lord will speak to them.

[blitzkreig]

Unless they had communicated that they may take liberties with your article content in advance... you are correct in concluding that they did not behave ethically. But actual ethical behavior in business today is pretty scarce. I would just chalk it up to a learning experience...