Writers and Editors

That your feet grow longer because the fat on the soles disappears.
That your body grows shorter, as the bones in your spine get thinner.
That older people call other people "darling" because they can't remember their names.
That remembering may be harder, but in many ways you're a lot smarter.
That your ears keep growing. ("My mom in her old age complained she looked like Lyndon Johnson.")
That you need more  Read More 

The Association of Personal Historians declared bankruptcy in 2017, but its code of ethics is still useful. Personal historians still need to uphold professional standards that protect the integrity of the profession and safeguard the interests of individual clients and narrators. The Code of Ethics states the core values of those of us helping others tell their personal stories (whether as memoirs, autobiographies, family histories, video tributes, and so on). Those values are to
• Conduct business according to impeccable standards of fairness and integrity.
• Represent honestly their qualifications, background,  Read More 

by Pat McNees
Ken Ackerman (www.KennethAckerman.com) led a discussion of the Washington Biography Group (4-30-12) that was interesting enough for me to resurrect, update, and rearrange items in my original e-letter. Ken began by identifying several elements of risk in writing biographies:
• The risk of lawsuits, especially if what you write is not true

 Read More 

Updated October 15, 2024

 

$9 Million Is Paid to Freelance Writers in 17-Year-Old Copyright Suit (Authors Guild, 4-30-18) The class-action suit grew out of an earlier action brought by Jonathan Tasini and several other writers, which led to the Supreme Court ruling in the freelancers’ favor.
• Late Justice — the $2,935 Check I Received for Content I Wrote Twenty Years Ago (Lee Foster, Bay Area Independent Publishers Association, 5-23-18) A good explanation of the underlying dynamics, of publishers deciding it wasn't worth the time it would take to assess what they really owed freelance writers, and of writers deciding to stick up for their rights. It only took 17 years for the writers to get some compensation. That writers whose stories were published in many different places got paid only for the first re-use, in the settlement--well...so it was not a perfect settlement, but it was something.
• Electronic Database Copyright Class Action Settlement (Anne Bucher, Top Class Actions, 3-10-14) This settlement is now closed!
• Freelance Settlement Update (Authors Guild , 9-17-17 updated 12-6-17) Case history, plan of allocation, and other important background information.
• Copyright Infringement and Remedies (Chapter 5, Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17))  Read More 

• The Silencing of Daphne (Stephen Grey, Reuters Investigates, 4-17-18. Valletta, Malta) Last October, Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia was assassinated by a car bomb. This is the inside story of a murder that tarnishes Europe. That bombing last October did more than kill Daphne, as she was universally known on the island. It ripped open the dark side of Malta. The brazen assassination and the lawlessness it implies appalled not only Daphne’s friends and family, but also political leaders across Western Europe.
• The Daphne Project: 'Her voice will not be silenced' (Will Fitzgibbon, International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, 4-17-18) A team of 45 journalists from 15 countries will continue the work of Malta reporter Daphne Caruana Galizia. Forbidden Stories published stories  Caruana Galizia was unable to finish herself.
• The Daphne Project (Wikipedia) is a collaborative, cross-border investigative journalism project by major news organizations from around the world, coordinated by Paris-based investigative non-profit newsroom, Forbidden Stories, to continue the work of Maltese investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. Their work has been facilitated through the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) , a member of the Global Investigative Journalism Network
• Independent journalism initiatives (Daphne Foundation)
• Forbidden Stories: The Daphne Project
• Daphne Caruana Galizia to be honoured in the US (Times of Malta, 4-7-18) Slain journalist honoured with ASJA's Conscience in Media award
• Mastermind behind Maltese journalist's murder is being protected, says husband ( Juliette Garside and Stephanie Kirchgaessner, The Daphne Project, The Guardian, 4-17-18)
• A bomb silenced Daphne Caruana Galizia. But her investigation lives on (Juliette Garside, The Daphne Project, The Guardian, 4-17-18)
• In Journalist’s Murder, a Test for Malta, and the European Union (Nicholas Kulish, NY Times, 4-17-18) The New York Times assesses the political context for the killing, looking into Malta’s deepening corruption problem and the headache it poses for the European Union.
• Breathing new life into a dead journalist's work (Jon Allsop, CJR, 4-19-18.

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