Writers and Editors

Academic community fears chilling effect of honoring subpoenas for sealed oral history transcripts
• BC should abide by subpoena, provide info in murder case (Editorial, Boston Globe 8-1-11). "BOSTON COLLEGE is justifiably proud of its relationship with Ireland and its role in helping to shepherd the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. Those close ties are one reason the college has been waging a court battle against a US government subpoena, requested by British authorities, which seeks testimony from a sealed oral history project about the war in Northern Ireland. Boston College’s concerns are valid, but the interests of justice and diplomacy outweigh any claim for special protection. The promise that was made to participants in the oral history project - that their testimony wouldn’t be released until they died - must be rescinded in light of a murder investigation."
• College Fights Subpoena of Interviews Tied to I.R.A. (Katie Zezima, NY Times, 6-9-11). "Boston College filed a motion this week to quash a federal subpoena seeking access to confidential interviews of paramilitary fighters for the Provisional Irish Republican Army."
• US college requests quashing of oral history subpoenas (Kevin Cullen, Irish Times 6-11-11). "In A case being watched closely by academics around the world, Boston College has asked a judge to quash subpoenas demanding it turn over to British authorities records from an oral history project involving republican and loyalist paramilitaries in Northern Ireland. In papers filed in court in Boston, the college said releasing audio tapes and other materials connected to the confidential interviews could jeopardise the safety of former paramilitaries who were interviewed, the two former paramilitaries who conducted the interviews, and college staff involved in an oral history known as the 'Belfast Project'.”

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Argo Publiabiity insurance. Media liability insurance available to publishers and authors. This is not a recommendation (I haven't used them) but getting the name of a lawyer for liability insurance for an author is not easy! Let me know if there are others you've used and been satisfied with.

Banned books. See Censorship, Banned Books, and Freedom of Expression, below.

Best practices for government communications directors NOAA administrator Jane Lubchenco explicitly tells NOAA scientists that they are free to speak to the public, including the media, without permission from anyone at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (that is, without being "handled" and censored). • Federal Agency Encourages Its Scientists to Speak Out (Mark Fischetti, Scientific American blog, 12-8-11, on NOAA's policy of promoting open science) • NOAA statement on NOAA scientific integrity commons • NOAA FAQs on its scientific integrity policy • NOAA state of the science fact sheets Example: Public Communications and the Media May I take phone calls from media and give interviews? Yes. There are no exceptions here. However, you are not required to give media interviews. You can always refer media to your public affairs officer. Similarly, you should always feel free to consult with your public affairs officer prior to an interview and/​or include them in the interview. What should I do if I am asked to give an interview? You are not required to do anything. However, good practice suggests you should notify your public affairs officer and/​or the head of your operating unit prior to or just after you give an interview. Why? Common courtesy. You wouldn't want somebody surprising you with detailed questions about your work, and your managers are no different. Nobody enjoys being made to look foolish or uninformed in public. If you don't tell your managers you said something, it is possible they could be called out and made to look bad. Situational awareness is not a requirement, but it can be a good thing. Use your best judgment. [Thanks to Andrew Holtz for drawing journalists' attention to this. HHS should be following a similar policy.]

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Bias in journalism vs. political correctness. Juan Williams Fired For Admitting He Is Afraid of Flying Muslims (Riley Waggaman, Wonkette, 10-21-10) and In wake of NPR controversy, Fox News gives Juan Williams an expanded role (Matea Gold, in Los Angeles Times, 10-21-10)

Blogging, digital journalism, and the law

• A Citizen's Guide to Reporting on #OccupyWallStreet (Citizen Media Law Project)
• U.S. court rules Oregon blogger not a journalist (Summer Harlow, Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas 12-7-11).
• Judge: Blogger not a reporter, must turn over information (Steve Schmadeke, Chicago Tribune 1-13-02)
• No, the Sky is Not Falling: Explaining that Decision in Oregon Eric P. Robinson (Citizen Media Law Project 12-12-11)
• Blogger jailed in Anna Nicole Smith defamation suit (Kate Murphy, AFP--noting that in court a blogger is a publisher, not a writer)
• Blogging Between the Lines (Dana Hull, American Journalism Review, December 2006). "The mainstream media have fallen in love with blogs, launching them on everything from politics to life in Las Vegas to bowling. But does the inherent tension between the blogosphere’s anything-goes ethos and the standards of traditional journalism mean this relationship is doomed?"

• Digital Journalist's Legal Guide (Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press). for anyone disseminating news online, from an independent blogger to a reporter for a major media outlet, as well as media lawyers. Topic areas (from from RCFP press release) include:
* Gathering News and Information (e.g., rules for open records and meetings, access to courts, and newsgathering right of access to events/​places)
* Protecting and Defending Your Work (e.g., what to do to protect sources and fight subpoenas, steps to take if there’s a threat or actual lawsuit libel, and how to handle invasion of privacy concerns)
* Knowing Legal Restrictions (e.g., understanding basic Internet regulation and how to protect a domain name, and copyright and trademark law covering both original work and “fair use” of other materials).

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Can We Tape? A Practical Guide to Taping Phone Calls and In-Person Conversations in the 50 States and D.C. (with a state-by-state guide). (Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, Fall 2008)

Censorship, Banned Books, and Freedom of Expression

• Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (CBLDF) . See its case files.
• First Amendment Center (many articles and other resources on censorship and free speech)
• First Amendment Coalition (FAC), originally California First Amendment Coalition (and California-focused), an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization whose purpose is to "promote and defend the people's right to know"--that is, our freedom of information (to find out) and freedom of expression. (to speak out) about matters of public interest.
• Free Expression Network (FEN, a project of the National Coalition Against Censorship, an alliance of organizations dedicated to defending the right to free expression)
• List of members of the Free Expression Network
• Organizations that promote 'freedom of thought, inquiry and expression and opposing censorship in all its forms" (National Coalition Against Censorship, NCAC)
• Index on Censorship (U.K.)
• National Freedom of Information Coalition (NFOIC), about the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), state FOI and open government issues.
• Campaign for Core Freedoms (PEN American Center)
• Katherine Anne Porter Award for First Amendment Defender (new $10,000 award from PEN American Center)
• PEN/​Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award (projects to further their work against censorship or to writers who have been in dire financial straits as a result of political persecution, often consisting of imprisonment)
• The Freedom to Read Statement (American Library Association)
• Citizen Media Law Project blog
• Free speech blog (Index on Censorship). Check out its blog roll.
• Katherine Paterson: The Risks of Great Literature . The celebrated and banned children’s book author speaks with us about the fears of censors, the deaths of children, and what we need to risk for literature. (Guernica)
• French Censorship: Copyright Laws, "Private Life," and Biography (Hazel Rowley, The American Scholar, Winter 2009). Fascinating.
• Internet black holes: where storytelling waits (13 countries where Internet access is restricted through censorship), map from Reporters Sans Frontieres, as posted on "Write now is good"
• Global Campaign Against Impunity. The countries with the highest rates of murder of journalists (censorship by murder): Russia and the Philippines (Committee to Protect Journalists)
• Diario de Juarez editorial, in translation (LA Times, 9-24-10, a front-page editorial published by the main newspaper in Ciudad Juarez, publicly offers to the Juarez drug gangs what news organizations across Mexico practice widely for their survival: self-censorship in exchange for no more assassinations of journalists.
• Internet Filtering: Beware the Cybercensors (Barbara Miner, Rethinking Schools, compares blocking software to the banning of books from libraries). Partial article for nonmembers.

Banned Books, Lists of
• Frequently challenged books of the 21st century (Banned Books, American Library Association)
• Banned and Challenged Books (American Library Association)
• Top 10 Banned Books and Their Reason for Being Banned (About.com)
• 50 Most Frequently Banned Books (Jason Chervokas and Tom Watson, Cybertimes, 8-22-97)
• Top 10 Banned Books of All Time (Shortlist)
• Banned Books Week. Sponsored by the American Library Association (ALA), this annual event, held the last week of September, celebrates the freedom to read and the importance of the First Amendment.
• I Read My 5-Year-Old Banned Books & You Should, Too (Lisa Catherine Harper, HuffPost 9-29-11)
• Banned or "warned about" books: Anderson's 'Speak' Under Attack Again. Rocco Staino, in School Library Journal (9-23-10), interviews Laurie Halse Anderson about strong reaction to Wesley Scroggins' op ed piece in Missouri's News Leader, cautioning parents against the "soft porn" of Anderson's "filthy" novel, Speak, about a teenager who chooses not to speak rather than give voice to what really happened: rape. Other books Scroggins warns parents about: Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut and Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler. Anderson says that thousands of readers have written to say that Speak "made them feel less alone and gave them the strength to speak up about being sexually assaulted and other painful secrets."

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Coalition of the Shilling (Nathan Hodge, The Nation, 3-11-10). Nonpartisan think tanks are supporting journalism--but who's supporting the think tanks?

Conflicts of Interest -- and Full Disclosure
• Conflicts of Interest May Ensnare Journalists, Too (Roni Caryn Rabin, Health, NY Ties, 9-21-08). Focuses on health care journalists. Conflicts of interest are especially obvious with medical industry-sponsored awards, trips, and professorships.
• Six Ways Journalists Can Avoid Conflicts of Interest (Tony Rogers, About.com) See also his short article A Code of Conduct for Reporters (rules to live by on the job)
• Judge orders Oracle, Google to disclose paid journalists and bloggers (Jeff John Roberts, PaidContent 8-7-12)
• FTC Tells Amateur Bloggers to Disclose Freebies or Be Fined (Ryan Singel, Wired, 10-5-09, pointing out some gaps and weaknesses in the rules) and here are the FTC Guidelines on the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising. Here's an earlier story: FTC to go after blogger freebies (Caroline McCarthy, CNet News, 6-22-09)
• Debating the ethics of medical ghostwriting (links on Writers & Editors blog; see also Medical ghostwriting and ethical issues in medical publishing
Can We Tape? A Practical Guide to Taping Phone Calls and In-Person Conversations in the 50 States and D.C. (with a state-by-state guide). (Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, Fall 2008)

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Corporate Integrity Agreements (CIAs), Health & Human Services list, from which PharmaGossip provided this Hat tip, links to the Big Pharma Corporate Integrity Agreements

Defamation, libel, and slander
• What Are Defamation, Libel and Slander? (Aaron Larson, ExpertLaw, August 2003)
• Defamation of Character: Libel and Slander in a Writers World (Emily K. Bivens, The Dabbling Mum)
• Russian parliament votes to recriminalize defamation (Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), 7-11-12)
• In Ecuador, defamation case could set dangerous precedent (Sara Rafsky, Committee to Protect Journalists, 1-17-12). A defamation decision against a newspaper in Ecuador contradicts a mounting body of international legal opinion that affirms that public officials should not enjoy protection from scrutiny. (Several more such reports on the CPJ site.)

Defamation
• Frequently asked questions (and answers) about defamation (Chilling Effects). The Chilling Effects clearinghouse is a collaborative archive created by several law school clinics and the Electronic Frontier Foundation to combat legal threats used to silence Internet activity.
• What are the elements of a defamation claim? (Chilling Effects)
• How to Address Defamatory Online Content (Meridith Levinson, ComputerWorld, 4-6-09)
• Blogger jailed in Anna Nicole Smith defamation suit (Kate Murphy, AFP--noting that in court a blogger is a publisher, not a writer)
• A Selective Review of Defamation Cases in 2009 Involving Professional Reputation (need not be libelous). Oxford University Press blog, 2010
• A Writer's Guide to Defamation and Invasion of Privacy (Amy Cook, Writer's Digest, 9-15-10)
• Faith and Free Speech: Defamation of Religions and Freedom of Expression. International PEN, warning against regulations prohibiting criticism of any religion or any set of ideas, organized a side-session panel discussion at a U.N. meeting in Geneva, with statements made by Wole Soyinka, Ariel Dorfman, Azar Nafisi, and Kwame Anthony Appiah.

Libel and libel suits
Is truth an absolute defense against libel? Read these stories.
• Twitter and libel law: A little bird told me (The Economist, 11-24-12). "When everyone is a publisher, everyone can be sued."
• Twitter users face libel claims for spreading false accusation (Jeff Sonderman, Poynter, 11-26-12)
• Could I Be Liable for Libel in Fiction? (Mark Fowler, Rights of Writers blog, 12-18-10)
• Oops, Maybe I Shouldn't Have Written That: A Modest Guide to Libel and Biography (James McGrath Morris, Biographer's Craft)
• Libel Insurance Providers (Student Press Law Center, a list of companies that have offered libel insurance to student media in recent years)
• Are Insurance Companies Redlining Journalists? (Carol Napolitano, American Journalism Review, Jan/​Feb 1995)
• 'Libel Tourism': When Freedom of Speech Takes a Holiday (Adam Cohen, Editorial Observer, NY Times Opinion page, 9-14-08)
• Britain to Seek Curbs to 'Libel Tourism' (Eric Pfanner, NY Times, 5-9-12)
• Libel and Slander U.S. Legal's webpage
• Libel and Privacy Invasion (Tips from Student Press Law Center)
• Libel in fiction (David L. Hudson, First Amendment Center 1-19-05)
• The Case Against Lillian Hellman: A Literary/​
Legal Defense (Daniel J. Kornstein, Fordham Law Review Vol. 57, issue5, article 1, 1-1-89, PDF)
• Think you know libel law? Think Again (Robert J. Abrogi, Media Law, on Noonan vs. Staples); and 1st Circuit Denies Review of Libel Ruling (Media Law 3-18-09).
• Libel Ruling Protects Anonymous Comments (Media Law, Maryland case, 3-1-09)
• Since when were memoirs non-fiction?. Subtitled "Lawsuits contesting the factual accuracy of autobiographies threaten a compelling pleasure for readers." The British (Guardian) take on the Turcottes' lawsuit about Augusten Burroughs' memoir Running with Scissors.
• Defamation and Libel (Wikipedia)
• Rules, Britannia! The Growing, Chilling Reach of Commonwealth Libel Laws (transcript of important Authors Guild panel discussion on the long arm of British libel law 9-25-06).
• Keep libel courts out of science: British Chiropractic Association v Simon Singh
The British Chiropractic Association brought a libel case against science writer Simon Singh at the Royal Courts of Justice in London for his criticism of chiropractic procedures in the book Trick or Treatment: The Undeniable Facts About Alternative Medicine and in a Guardian article, "Beware the Spinal Trap" (now removed from the Guardian site, but available through a link in this article on Lay Scientist: Simon Singh vs. British Chiropractic Association . Legal blogger Jack of Kent is following the case, providing expert analysis, and posting updates through his Twitter feed @​JackOfKent. Click here to read and/​or sign the Sense About Science petition stating: "The law has no place in scientific disputes: We the undersigned believe that it is inappropriate to use the English libel laws to silence critical discussion of medical practice and scientific evidence."
• Libel Law Has No Place in Scientific Disputes (Jack of Kent 6-4-09 on the libel case brought against Simon Singh by the British Chiropractic Association). Sense About Science filed a petition to keep Britain's ultrastrict libel law from limiting free speech in scientific disputes about evidence)

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Fabrication
• The First Peril:Fabrication (Chip Scanlan, Poynter Online)
• How to handle plagiarism and fabrication allegations (by Craig Silverman and Kelly McBride, Poynter, 8-15-12)

Faith and Free Speech: Defamation of Religions and Freedom of Expression. International PEN, warning against regulations prohibiting criticism of any religion or any set of ideas, organized a side-session panel discussion at a U.N. meeting in Geneva, with statements made by Wole Soyinka, Ariel Dorfman, Azar Nafisi, and Kwame Anthony Appiah.

Liability insurance, or media liability insurance. WriteInsure media perils insurance, available through Axis Pro. The Authors Guild has entered into an agreement with Axis Pro, the world's leading underwriter of media liability insurance, to offer Guild members professional liability insurance. Coverage is available under WriteInsure for book authorship, freelance writing and blogging. I don't think you have to be a member of AG to get it; I don't know if the cost or terms are different if you buy it individually. If anyone else does, or if other writers organizations are also making it available, please let me know!

For Instant Ratings, Interviews with a Checkbook (Brian Stelter and Bill Carter, Media & Advertising, NY Times, 6-12-11). News shows that want exclusive interviews often pay one way or another to get them, often as licensing fees for photos or videos, covering hotel costs, even financing special events.

Free Expression Network, a project of the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC)

Freedom House, among other things, publishes results of annual surveys ranking countries in terms of freedom and freedom of the press. Many excellent resources, including country rankings and maps.

Freedom of information in UK: Open Secrets (Martin Rosenbaum's blog for BC)

Ghostwriting. See Medical ghostwriting and ethical issues in medical publishing, below.

Giller jurist’s relationship to agent drawing criticism in literary world (Mark Medley, National Post, 11-13-10). Is it okay for a jurist to recommend a good novel to an agent just before the novel is longlisted for a major literary award?

Historian Orlando Figes agrees to pay damages for fake reviews on Amazon (Alexandra Topping, Guardian, 7-16-10). Historian to pay damages and costs to two rivals who launched a libel case after he posted reviews "praising his own work and rubbishing that of his rivals."

Historians and Human-Subjects Research by Christopher Shea (Wall Street Journal, Ideas Market 8-5-11). Shea asks: "How can oral (or, more generally, contemporary) historians escape inappropriate IRB scrutiny without denigrating their own work? Or, to back up a step, should they, in fact, have to go through the same procedures as social psychologists doing lab studies?" Zachary Schrag responds, in comments, that the National Research Act (42 USC 289) applies only to “biomedical and behavioral research,” which is not the kind of research historians do. On his Institutional Review Blog (about IRB overview of the humanities and social sciences), Schrag addresses the issue more fully in ANPRM: It's Time to Redefine Research.

Huffington Post makes millions; bloggers offered "exposure," not pay
• 'Huffington Post' Employee Sucked Into Aggregation Turbine. Horrified Workers Watch As Colleague Torn Apart By Powerful Content-Gathering Engine (The Onion's delightful take on Huffington Post as a Content Mill 2-2-12)
• The Economics of Blogging and The Huffington Post (Nate Silver, FiveThirtyEight, NY Times blog, 2-12-11). "I’ve also done a fair amount of uncompensated or undercompensated writing — there is certainly a time and a place for it, particularly if you’re trying to establish or re-establish your brand. But look beyond a site’s traffic numbers and consider how it presents your material and how prominently it is featured, as well as the sort of audience it is likely to attract. Being a small fish in a very, very big pond isn’t always the way to build up a name for yourself, much less to make money from it."
• The Huffington Post Rubs People the Wrong Way at the Republican National Convention (Andrew Van Alstyne, Pay the Writer!, National Writers Union, 8-29-12)
• How The Huffington Post Works (In Case You Were Wondering) (Jason Linkins, HuffPost, 2-10-11, 5-25-11, who reports that Huff does have a staff of paid writers, editors, and reporters.)

International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) (There can be no press freedom if journalists exist in conditions of corruption, poverty, or fear)

Juvenile E-linquents: Teaching kids what's right and wrong in cyberspace by Tim Harper

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Medical ghostwriting and ethical issues in medical publishing

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The practice of having an anonymous medical writer draft or substantially revise a medical manuscript without acknowledging their participation is unethical, according to the American Medical Writers Association, and the practice should not be tolerated. Not only should the role of the professional writer be transparent, but the articles should adhere to applicable guidelines (such as those of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors) and should fully disclose potential areas of conflict of interest. The medical writers paid by pharmaceutical companies (Big Pharm) are most likely to encounter ethical issues. Following are some of the more interesting discussions of the ethics and practical realities of medical writing:
• Answers to FAQs about Medical Ghostwriting (Project on Government Oversight, or POGO, 8-10-11).
• Ghostwriting Revisited: New Perspectives but Few Solutions in Sight by PLoS Medicine editors Virginia Barbour, Jocalyn Clark, Susan Jones, Melissa Norton, Paul Simpson, and Emma Veitch (PLoS Med 8(8): e1001084. doi:10.1371/​journal.pmed.1001084) 8-30-11 (Bottom line: Companies and writers who work on industry publications should be listed as byline authors.)
• How Industry Uses the ICMJE Guidelines to Manipulate Authorship—And How They Should Be Revised by Alastair Matheson (PLoS Med 8(8): e1001072. doi:10.1371/​journal.pmed.1001072) 8-9-11. Helpful references.
• Being the Ghost in the Machine: A Medical Ghostwriter's Personal View (Linda Logdberg, PLoS Medicine, 8-9-11). What she did, why she did it, and why she stopped doing it.
• Ghostwriting, RICO and Fraud on the Court? (Ed Silverman, Pharmalot blot 8-3-11). Two Toronto academics suggest pursuing class action lawsuits based on the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO, and filing claims of ‘fraud on the court’ against a drugmaker that uses ghostwritten articles in litigation. they base their argument on article published in PLoS Medicine: Legal Remedies for Medical Ghostwriting: Imposing Fraud Liability on Guest Authors of Ghostwritten Articles (by Simon Stern and Trudo Lemmens).
• Professor files complaint of scientific misconduct over allegation of ghostwriting by Bob Roehr (BMJ 2011; 343:d4458), filed 7-13-11.
• The murky world of academic ghostwriting (Julia Beluz, McLeans 5-6-11). Lawsuits are shedding light on the dubious relationship between medical researchers and pharmaceutical companies
• Only full access to trial data will show signs of ghostwriting, meeting hears BMJ 2011;342:doi:10.1136/​bmj.d2925 (5-10-11--subscription required). These articles are about an important meeting on medical ghostwriting held in Toronto, Spring 2011: The Ethics of Ghost Authorship in Biomedical Research: Concerns and Remedies
• How Scientific Literature Has Become Part of Big Pharma's Marketing Machine and How Being Nice Hurts Canada: 5 Questions with Ghostwriting Expert Trudo Lemmens (Paul Thacker, Project on Government Oversight (POGO), 6-22-11)
• Ghost Writing and Scientific Misconduct: What does this reflect? (Solomon R. Benatar, JCB Voice, also about the Toronto conference).
• How drug companies' PR tactics skew the presentation of medical research. Elliot Ross reveals the secret 'army of hidden scribes' paid by the drug companies to influence doctors (5-20-11)
• Give up the ghosts. "Funding agencies should make researchers reveal industry links." Nature 468. 732. (09 December 2010) doi:10.1038/​468732a
• Medical Papers by Ghostwriters Pushed Therapy (Natasha Singer, NY Times, 8-4-2009)
• What Should Be Done To Tackle Ghostwriting in the Medical Literature?. A debate about medical ghostwriting on PLoS Medicine, with Peter C. Gøtzsche, Jerome P. Kassirer, Karen L. Woolley, Elizabeth Wager, Adam Jacobs, Art Gertel, Cindy Hamiltonl (2009) PLoS Med 6(2): e1000023. doi:10.1371/​journal.pmed.1000023)
• Ghostwriting(Derek Lowe, In the Pipeline, a short entry followed by an intelligent discussion with readers)
• Ghostwriting and the Medical Writer (Cynthia Haggard, American Medical Writers Association)
• New strategies to tackle medical ghostwriting are debated (Science News)
• Ghost Writing Initiated by Commercial Companies (6-20-05, policy statement, World Association of Medical Writers, WAME)
• AMWA code of ethics
• The Haunting of Medical Journals: How Ghostwriting Sold “HRT” (Adriane J. Fugh-Berman, PLoS Med 7(9): e1000335, 9-7-10). (Fugh-Berman examines documents unsealed in recent litigation to see how pharmaceutical companies promoted hormone therapy drugs, which included using medical writing companies to produce ghostwritten manuscripts and place them in medical journals). Read the response by Adam Jacobs of the European Medical Writers Association.
• Ghost Management: How Much of the Medical Literature Is Shaped Behind the Scenes by the Pharmaceutical Industry? (Sergio Sismondo, PLoS Med 4(9): e286, 9-25-07)
• Revealed: how drug firms 'hoodwink' medical journals (Antony Barnett, The Observer, 12-7-03). Pharmaceutical giants hire ghostwriters to produce articles - then put doctors' names on them
• Evidence in Vioxx Suits Shows Intervention by Merck Officials (Alex Berenson, NY Times, 4-24-05)
• Good Publication Practice for Pharmaceutical Companies Guidelines (Envision Pharma, 2006)
• Madison Avenue Has Growing Role in the Business of Drug Research (Melody Peterson, NY Times, 2-22-02)
You'll find more articles on the subject on the collaboration and ghostwriting page of the Writers and Editors site

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Right of Publicity (Personality Rights)

• Personality rights (Wikipedia: "The right of publicity, often called personality rights, is the right of an individual to control the commercial use of his or her name, image, likeness, or other unequivocal aspects of one's identity. It is generally considered a property right as opposed to a personal right, and as such, the validity of the Right of Publicity can survive the death of the individual (to varying degrees depending on the jurisdiction). In the United States, the Right of Publicity is a state law-based right, as opposed to federal, and recognition of the right can vary from state to state."
• U.S. states that recognize rights of publicity (Wikipedia)
• Right of Publicity: An Overview (Legal Information Institute, Cornell University Law School)
• Brief History of RoP (Jonathan Faber's Right of Publicity site). See also his entries on Notable Cases .
• The rights of publicity and privacy (Public Domain Sherpa) Using a work with a recognizable person in it? Don't use it commercially without knowing about the rights of publicity and privacy.

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Open Secrets (Martin Rosenbaum's blog for BBC about freedom of information in UK)

‘Operation Dark Heart’ Author Sues for Uncensored Edition (Scott Shane, NYTimes, 10-14-10). A former Defense Intelligence Agency officer whose Afghan memoir (Operation Dark Heart: Spycraft and Special Ops on the Frontlines of Afghanistan -- and the Path to Victory) was belatedly censored by the Pentagon filed a lawsuit seeking to have the book’s full text restored in future printings.

PEN Freedom to Write program (defending writers and campaigning for freedom of expression both at home and abroad)

PepsiGate’ Rocks the Science Blogging World (David Disalvo, TrueSlant 7-8-10). Roughly: SEED magazine, owner of the well-regarded ScienceBlogs network, "decided to allow Pepsi to have its own blog on the network, called 'Food Frontiers'–which, of course, they would pay for, not unlike a block of continuous advertising space. Many bloggers at ScienceBlogs are not happy about this. The standard for any credible science journalism network is that writers earn their space on merit, not because they have products to pitch." The bottom line, writes Disalvo: "if you’re going to mix marketing with science journalism (or, really, any journalism worth its salt), then you’d better be damn sure to clarify that the commercial content is just that: PAID FOR CONTENT." See PepsiGate linkfest (Bora Zivkovic, on A Blog Around the Clock, posts links to all key posts about the event).

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Plagiarism

Mind you, this topic could and maybe should also be on the copyright page, but it's as much about ethics as about copyright.
• Jonah Lehrer’s Journalistic Misdeeds at Wired.com (Charles Seife, Slate.com, 8-31-12). Seife's investigation of the New Yorker and Wired.com writer reveals evidence of plagiarism, dodgy quotes, and factual inaccuracies, which are charted in this story. See also
~Violations of Editorial Standards Found in WIRED Writer’s Blog (Evan Hansen, Frontal Cortex, a Wired Science blog, 8-31-12)
~Jonah Lehrer’s Teller Deception (Kevin Breen, The Skeptical Libertarian, 8-10-12)
~How Jonah Lehrer Recycled His Own Material for Imagine (Edward Champion, Reluctant Habits, 6-20-12)
~The ethics of recycling content: Jonah Lehrer accused of self-plagiarism (Jonathan M. Gitlin, Ars Technica, 6-2-12)
~Jonah Lehrer Resigns From The New Yorker After Making Up Dylan Quotes for His Book (Julie Bosman, Media Decoder, NY Times, 7-30-12)
~Jonah Lehrer’s Deceptions (Michael C. Moynihan, Tablet--a new read on Jewish life, 7-30-12). The celebrated journalist fabricated Bob Dylan quotes in his new book, Imagine: How Creativity Works. (This exposé led to Lehrer's resignation from the New Yorker.)
~Interpreting Dylan, Always Treacherous, Was Lehrer’s Undoing (Ben Sisard, Media Decoder, NY Times, 7-31-12).

• How to handle plagiarism and fabrication allegations (by Craig Silverman and Kelly McBride, Poynter, 8-15-12)
• Plagiarism.org (among other things, provides free, live webinars on Plagiarism in the Digital Age, and many helpful articles
• What Is Plagiarism?
• The Unoriginal Sin: Differences Between Plagiarism and Copyright Infringement (Mark Fowler, Rights of Writers blog 7-4-11)
• Combating Plagiarism: Is the Internet causing more students to copy? (PDF of thoughtful long article, with bibliography, from CQ Researcher
• Amazon's Plagiarism Problem (Adam Penenberg, Fast Company 1-12-12). Amazon's erotica section is a magnet for copyright infringement, and "Amazon doesn't appear too eager to stop the forbidden author-on-author action."
• Chris Anderson's "Free" Contains Apparent Plagiarism (Waldo Jaquith, Virginia Quarterly Review, 6-23-09)
• Copyright Infringement And A Medieval Apple Pie (Jane Smith, How Publishing Really Works)
• Cribbing edges into plagiarism. Raj Persaud's sloppy work and the importance of attribution.Persaud's blatant cribs were flabbergasting, professor tells tribunal. Psychiatrist 'a baffling mix of skill and stupidity'. (Martin Wainwright, The Guardian 6-18-08)
• Detecting Plagiarism Dead Giveaways (Montgomery College Libraries)
• The Difference between Plagiarism, Piracy, and Copyright Infringement (Jackie Barbosa 11-4-10)
• Cooks Source Firestorm Over Plagiarism (Karen Berger, 11-5-11, on CreateWorkLive, on a blogger's [Judith Griggs'] months in the limelight as shockingly unenlighted about rights issues--using writer Monica Gaudio's piece about apple pie without asking permission, crediting her but refusing to pay for its use, and stating that everything on the Internet is public domain--which, dear reader, you know is not true.
• Something Borrowed (Malcolm Gladwell, in the New Yorker, 11-22-04, asks: Should a charge of plagiarism ruin your life?
• The Counter-Plagiarism Handbook (Craig Silverman's Tips for writers and editors on how to avoid or detect journalistic plagiarism, CJR Regret the Error, 2-26-10)
• Former Rutgers student says software detecting plagiarism was wrong when it flagged her work, caused her to fail (Kelly Heyboer, NJ Star-Ledger, 12-4-11). At what point does failure to attribute sources in the text become plagiarism?
• George Bush Book 'Decision Points' Lifted From Advisers' Books (Ryan Grim, Huffington Post 11-13-10)
• Getting to the Source: Preventing Plagiarism (Chip Scanlan, Poynter, 9-19-03)
• Historians Rewrite History. Timothy Noah (Slate, 11-13-03) on the campaign to exonerate Doris Kearns Goodwin
• Is It Plagiarism? iParadigms Walks Both Sides of the Question (Kent Anderson, Scholarly Kitchen, 9-12-11). "The two most popular plagiarism-detection programs are Turnitin — widely used in higher education — and CrossCheck — widely used by scholarly publishers. Both programs rely on software developed by iParadigms." An iParadigms product called WriteCheck is marketed to authors and researchers to detect how much of their paper matches content in the company's database, "allowing the company to work both sides of the plagiarism game."
• SafeAssign (software for detecting plagiarism, useful for detecting if students are copying text online)
• iThenticate Plagiarism Checker (Web-based content verification technology)
• Plagiarism and Precedence: Media Ethics (Edward Wasserman, 10-9-06)
• Plagiarism Is a Community Issue
• Plagiarism, the Latest -Gate (Megan Garber, CJR, 2-19-08)
• Plagiarism.org
• Plagiarism Resources for Faculty (Bluegrass Community Technical College)
• The Plagiarism Resource Site (many helpful links, especially for teachers dealing with plagiarism in the classroom)
• Plagiarism Pays (Reed Irvine and Cliff Kincaid, Accuracy in Media, on offenders who make a comeback)
• Plagiarism vs. Copyright Infringement: Do You Know the Difference? (Kristen King, (ink)thinker blog, 5-8-07)
• The Posner Plagiarism Perplex. Jack Shafer (Slate 2-11-10) on what to make of Gerald Posner's blog statement.
• Someone Used My Research without Acknowledgement (Richard Labunski, History News Network, 5-21-12). Labunski details how another author, published by Regnery, claimed to have written the only work about the election of 1989, Madison, Monroe, and the Bill of Rights--but that he based most of of it on Labunski's earlier book and failed totally to credit Labunski, who was particularly upset that he failed to acknowledge Labunski's painstaking work compiling data about that election. The author didn't copy words, but he did steal the fruits of Labunski's labor and pass it off as his own. Maybe that's not plagiarism but it is intellectual theft.
• A Tale of Self-Plagiarism — A Critic of Publishers Proves a Prostitute Is As a Prostitute Does (Kent Anderson, Scholarly Kitchen 9-14-11)
• Elizabeth Hasselbeck Sued for Plagiarism--Accused of No Original Thoughts (TMZ, where you can view the letter from the lawyer)
• Miami paper fires arts critic for reusing work (AP story, USA Today, 7-5-04)
• To Catch a Plagiarist (Craig Silverman, Regret the Error, CJR, 2-19-10). There are tools to catch plagiarists in action. Why don't news outlets use them?
• What Did Ian McEwan Do? (Jack Shafer, Slate, criticizes big-time novelists for saying 'Nothing wrong.')
• Anti-Plagiarism Day (Jane Smith)
• I was unable to find a link to Trudy Lieberman's oft-cited long 1995 piece on plagiarism in the Columbia Journalism Review. Look for it in a good library – or, Dear CJR, please make it available online and tell me where to find it!
• Finally, not quite on the topic of plagiarism, but a kissing cousin:
The Shadow Scholar ("Ed Dante," The Chronicle of Higher Education, 11-12-10). The man who writes your students' papers tells his story. Ghostwriter of academic papers and homework tells how he makes a living writing papers for a custom-essay company and describes the extent of student cheating he has observed. Long, fascinating, and disheartening article.
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ProPublica Editor Paul Steiger Discusses Emerging Ethical Questions for Journalists (Mike Webb presents, on ProPublica 10-21-10). ProPublica’s editor-in-chief points out four issues facing journalists today: "the blurred line between presentation of fact and opinion; the quest for building a larger audience versus the need for journalism of substance and civic importance; the new business challenges facing the industry; and the need for greater transparency from news organizations." Says Steiger,"If we create business models that depend largely on page views, we should not be surprised if they drive publishers to favor content with a high prospect of 'going viral' over content that is primarily thought-provoking, or challenging, or discomfiting, or even educational."

Radio Host Has Drug Company Ties ran the headline on Gardiner Harris's story about Frederick K. Goodwin, "the latest in a series of doctors and researchers whose ties to drugmakers have been uncovered by Senator Charles E. Grassley. Goodwin, a former director of the NIMH and host of the popular public radio program “The Infinite Mind,” earned at least $1.3 million from 2000 to 2007 giving marketing lectures for drugmakers. The program's producer was unaware of the fees, report PR Watch.org and PR Web.

Right to Know Committee, the Association of Health Care Journalists' page of links. AHCJ is particularly concerned about health care organizations that restrict access to information about research simply because they want to control the news (often doing so in the name of HIPAA).

Scholarly Work, Without All the Footnotes (Arthur S. Brisbane, The Public Editor, NY Times, 10-2-10), on how a dispute about a Times Magazine article, Does Your Language Shape How You Think? by linguist Guy Deutscher, illustrates the differences between academic publishing and the popular press. Mainly: less credit to sources--and why not post those online?

The Shadow Scholar ("Ed Dante," The Chronicle of Higher Education, 11-12-10). The man who writes your students' papers tells his story. Ghostwriter of academic papers and homework tells how he makes a living writing papers for a custom-essay company and describes the extent of student cheating he has observed. Long, fascinating, and disheartening article.
For example: "I, who have no name, no opinions, and no style, have written so many papers at this point, including legal briefs, military-strategy assessments, poems, lab reports, and, yes, even papers on academic integrity, that it's hard to determine which course of study is most infested with cheating. But I'd say education is the worst. I've written papers for students in elementary-education programs, special-education majors, and ESL-training courses. I've written lesson plans for aspiring high-school teachers, and I've synthesized reports from notes that customers have taken during classroom observations. I've written essays for those studying to become school administrators, and I've completed theses for those on course to become principals." His earnings the year he is writing: $66,000 a year.
This topic was covered earlier and once over lightly in The Term Paper Artist by Nick Mamatas (The Smart Set, Drexel University, 10-10=08). Nick was also interviewed by NPR (The Paper Market, On the Media, 11-28-10).

Sunlight Foundation blog (making government transparent and accountable)

Truth, accuracy, accountability, and public trust

• Journalism and the truth: More complicated than it has ever been (Mathew Ingram, Gigaom, 10-23-12). In the past, the truth about a social or political event was whatever the newspaper or the TV news said it was. But now that anyone can publish their views, the process of arriving at the truth is a lot more complicated — and even more important.
• On CNN's Reliable Sources, Congressional Experts Ornstein And Mann Describe How Media Obscure GOP Extremism
• Should The Times Be a Truth Vigilante? (Arthur Brisbane, Public Editor's Journal, NY Times, 1-12-12)
• Who Controls the Story? (Margaret Sullivan, Public Editor, NY Times, 9-29-12) The New York Times draws a line on “quote approval,” but not everyone is convinced.
• ‘We are indeed less willing to agree on what constitutes truth’ (Clay Shirky, 10-17-12, part of a Poynter symposium on journalism ethics in the digital age , with other essays that will become part of a book on digital ethics to be published by Poynter and CQ Press.
• Restoring trustworthiness to news (Craig Newmark, CraigConnects, cosponsor of the Poynter symposium on journalism ethics).
• Storify's live blog from the October 2012 symposium
• Coalition of the Shilling (Nathan Hodge, The Nation, 3-11-10). Nonpartisan think tanks are supporting journalism--but who's supporting the think tanks?
• Accuracy in Media (AIM) (for fairness, balance, and accuracy in news reporting
• FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, a national media watch group)
• In journalism's crossfire culture, everyone gets wounded (Howard Kurtz, Media Notes, Washington Post 8-1-10)
• Seattle attorney finds that the Internet won't let go of his past (Isaac Arnsdorf, Seattle Times, 8-15-08). What happens when inaccuracy stays alive and anti-censorship principles conflict with fairness? [Back to Top]

Watching the Media Watchdogs (Greg Mitchell, The Nation, 3-15-10). Highlighting the best and worst of current media (print, digital, and broadcast) several times a day. Twitterfeed: @​MediaFixBlog

Whistleblower protections

• National Whistleblowers Center ('honesty without fear")
• Office of the Whistleblower (U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission)
• Whistleblower Protections (U.S. Department of Labor)
• Whistleblower (Wikipedia's entry on the subject links to many interesting sites and explanations, including whistleblower protections)
• West Texas whistleblower nurse acquitted, filing suit of her own (Christian Dem, Daily Kos, 2-11-10)

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WikiLeaks cables: Pfizer 'used dirty tricks to avoid clinical trial payout' (Sarah Boseley, Guardian UK, 12-9-10). Cables say drug giant hired investigators to find evidence of corruption on Nigerian attorney general to persuade him to drop legal action

Will the Times Fire a Harvard Prof. Who Broke Their Freelancer Rules? (Gawker, 12-27-09) and Will The New York Times Wrist-Slap Another Freelancer, A Harvard Professor? (Caitlin Kelly, True/​Slant, 12-28-09)

Wronging a person through speech (Judaism 101 on Speech & Lashon Ha-Ra). "Gossip and slander are serious sins in Judaism. Judaism forbids causing any deception or embarrassment through speech. It is forbidden even if the statement is true. There are some exceptions that allow tale-bearing." And so on!