Writers and Editors (RSS feed)
Fact-checking the Democrats and the Republicans
Comments
Aug 30, 2012 11:03 AM EDT
Add to that 4thEstate.net, which replaces anecdote and speculation with visual intelligence based on statistical analysis. For example: Liberal media bias: fact or fiction?
- Pat McNees
Aug 31, 2012 8:25 AM EDT
Facts Take a Beating in Acceptance Speeches (Michael Cooper, Check Point, NY Times, 8-31-12). "The two speeches [Romney's and Ryan's] — peppered with statements that were incorrect or incomplete — seemed to signal the arrival of a new kind of presidential campaign, one in which concerns about fact-checking have been largely set aside." "One of Mr. Ryan’s most pointed attacks on Mr. Obama was on the deficit. 'He created a new bipartisan debt commission,' Mr. Ryan noted. 'They came back with an urgent report. He thanked them, sent them on their way and then did exactly nothing.'”Left unsaid: Mr. Ryan served on that commission himself, and his opposition to its final proposals helped seal its fate. The panel, known as the Simpson-Bowles deficit commission, made a number of recommendations that Mr. Ryan ultimately opposed on the grounds that they would have raised some taxes while failing to cut enough from health programs. His dismissal of the plan was seen as a significant blow to its chances of success, since it soured other House Republicans on it."Real the whole article for point-by-point corrections of inaccuracy and untruths.
- PM
Sep 06, 2012 10:18 AM EDT
Fact-checking: What exactly are we debating again? (Erik Wemple, Washington Post 9-5-12). First in "an endless, tireless, exhaustive series of blog posts on the fact-checking industry." And I quote: “We’re not going to let our campaign be dictated by fact-checkers.,” declared Mitt Romney pollster Neil Newhouse last week. FactCheck.org Director Brooks Jackson last night told me that editors across the industry more or less freaked out upon hearing that salvo. Says Jackson: “Neil Newhouse stated it out loud. The obvious attitude of the Obama campaign and the Romney campaign has forced news editors to pay attention to this.”
- PM
Sep 06, 2012 10:22 AM EDT
Fact check: A look at Bill Clinton's speech (Detroit Free Press, 9-6-12, the day after Clinton's speech at the Democratic convention)
- PM
Sep 18, 2012 7:12 AM EDT
#presspushback (Jay Rosen's PressThink).
- PM
Sep 18, 2012 7:18 AM EDT
He Said, She Said, and the Truth (Margaret Sullivan, The Public Editor, NY Times, 9-16-12)
- PM
Sep 20, 2012 8:28 AM EDT
The Two-Way (National Public Radio's news blog, which invites conversation). For example: What We Know About 'Sam Bacile,' The Man Behind The Muhammad Movie , which reveals that Bacile is a made-up name and he is not a Jew, that the inflammatory Yahoo "sample" was dubbed over (and that the actors hired to create the film were deceived about its purposes), that Coptic Christians were involved, and that to some extent it was probably a disinformation campaign.
- PM
Nov 01, 2012 11:59 AM EDT
Can I get a fact check before retweeting that awesome Hurricane Sandy picture? (Alex Hern, New Statesman, 10-30-12)
- PM
Nov 01, 2012 12:02 PM EDT
Emergency information response is a public service we can coordinate through real-time verification (Craig Silverman, Regret the Error, Poynter 11-1-12). Here is the page Atlantic Magazine put up of Instasnopes: sorting the real Sandy photos from the fakes.
- PM
How to Deal with Warranty and Indemnification Clauses
Updated 9-3-15.
The following appeared as a position paper on the ASJA website in 2003 and is reprinted here with ASJA's permission--and the warning that it may be out of date (but may alert you to potential problems). See links to current news story at end. This is NOT a clause you want to accept lightly
Comments
Aug 15, 2014 10:13 AM EDT
Thank you. I can currently find very little work anymore that doesn't come with these dangerous clauses. The publisher's attorneys advise against any change the author suggests unless the writer gets another attorney involved.
- Brenda
Nov 02, 2014 3:58 AM EST
Thank you, Pat.Instead of "provided that such liability is finally established by a court of competent jurisdiction, and that such judgment is sustained after all appeals have been exhausted", "provided that such liability is finally sustained" is all that is needed.
- Michael S. Altus, PhD, ELS
Mar 18, 2015 8:07 AM EDT
Thanks, Pat. I too am seeing more and more of this language in contracts, written in increasingly broader terms. Your post is the clearest and most useful resource I've found for dealing with this issue. Much appreciated.
- Antoine
Mar 19, 2015 8:47 PM EDT
Pat, it might be interesting to explore the ramifications of indemnification on the individual's insurance.I would image that an insurance policy would not pay claims in situations where you've signed away in advance to cover third-party (a publisher's) expenses.Thanks for your thoughtful writing on this topic. It is a big help in these murky and shark-infested waters.
- Antoine
Dec 18, 2015 8:44 AM EST
See also this post in the Authors Guild's Fair Contract Initiative: Stop Forcing Authors to Take Unlimited Financial Risks (AG, 12-18-15)One comment there seconds what Michael Altus recommends, as a limiting phrase.
- Pat McNees
Jun 18, 2016 8:14 AM EDT
In The Business of Editing: Noncompetition Agreements (An American Editor, 1-29-14), Rich Adin complains of packagers asking for one-sided, onerous noncompetition clauses. After explaining all the reasons for not signing a contract containing such a clause, he ends, "The point is that you need to read noncompetition agreements very carefully. You need to be sure that its scope is very narrow and that all of the entities you are not to approach are identified. Even more importantly, you need to negotiate compensation for the rights you are giving up. Finally, I would think about whether signing the agreement would change your status from freelancer to employee in the eyes of the IRS. Because I am averse to signing such agreements, I make it clear that I plan to send the agreement to the IRS for review. So far, that has been enough to have the agreement disappear without my signature."
- Pat McNees
Jul 28, 2016 1:16 PM EDT
Katie writes: "I recently got accepted as an independent contractor on a selective freelance site. I just received their contract, and it includes everything you warn against. My question is whether you believe the information in this article would still apply? Technically, the website connects other businesses with freelancers, so the setup is different than a book or magazine publisher. Any advice on how to handle the situation? Or should I proceed with what you've laid out above, regardless of the different situation?Thank you so much for this information! My spidey senses perked up as I read through the contract, and this (as well as another article I found on this site) helped a lot."Pat responds: I am no lawyer, but if anything people are offering even more draconian clauses now, and based on the logic of the thing, I would strike out any clauses that put you at financial risk. It's not worth signing a bad clause just to get the gig, in my view.
- Katie
Aug 12, 2016 6:35 AM EDT
See Legal Liability and the Copyeditor (Adrienne Montgomerie, Copyediting, 8-8-16). Good succinct statement about why a copyeditor should strike an indemnity clause from a contract with her client: "The copyeditor does not have the authority to enforce changes to address plagiarism or using content without permission (two related but not identical issues). Neither does the copyeditor have the last look at material before it is published." "Proofreaders can’t be assigned the responsibility because they are not asked to look at content at that level."There is also a LEGAL LIMITS OF LIABILITY reason: "In some jurisdictions (and the jurisdictions vary wildly), there is also a legal principle along the lines that the powerless little guy can’t be assigned responsibility in an agreement. That means both that the court won’t agree that the copyeditor accepted legal liability if that person was reliant on Big Corp for a living (you might think of it as being dismissed because it was agreed to under duress), nor will they easily agree that the least able to pay in a settlement is the one responsible for damages."
- PM
Jan 19, 2020 3:32 PM EST
Wording other authors had added: "and, Author’s liability hereunder is limited to the total sums payable to Author under this Agreement."
And
"when determined by a court of final jurisdiction." Then the costs only apply after someone had actually gone to court and exhausted all legal remedies.
- Pat McNees
Apostrophes, commas, and other punctuation trouble spots
A woman: without her, man is nothing.
If you don't use copy editors routinely and aren't sure when and where to place commas and apostrophes or when and whether to capitalize words, please read and bookmark Read More