View Single Post
Old 01-05-2018, 08:34 PM   #35
SteveEisenberg
Grand Sorcerer
SteveEisenberg ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.SteveEisenberg ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.SteveEisenberg ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.SteveEisenberg ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.SteveEisenberg ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.SteveEisenberg ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.SteveEisenberg ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.SteveEisenberg ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.SteveEisenberg ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.SteveEisenberg ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.SteveEisenberg ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
Posts: 7,444
Karma: 43514536
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: near Philadelphia USA
Device: Kindle Kids Edition, Fire HD 10 (11th generation)
Quote:
Originally Posted by frahse View Post
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.
SteveEisenberg is online now