Quote:
Originally Posted by frahse
The author . . . also said on line or in interviews that he would lie if necessary to get comments.
|
frahse, your post is giving me a lot to think about.
Hypothetically, if an author agreed to a statement being background and then quoted the source, that's a serious ethical violation. A newspaper (and all my newspaper reading is Mobilereading, so this is on topic
) should discipline the reporter who did this, probably by firing on the first offense. Perhaps the only exception -- and I don't think this would happen in a political interview -- is an admission to having committed a murder. The reporter then must break the promise.
If an author earns out his or her advance after producing an accurate* book that includes off-the-record quotations, I don't see how the publisher can discipline the author
for that book. But the publisher shouldn't buy any more book proposals from that author.
If the author was unethical in a less extreme way -- say, by giving the false impression of being a political supporter of the person being interviewed -- I don't like it. But I'm now thinking the public need to know is more important than the misleading statement. This is something where I could easily change my mind.
_____________
* Most non-fiction inevitably has a few mistakes. I mean -- accurate within normal expectations.