Ethics and Publishing

We know newspapers are looking for ways to cut costs, but this might not be the best way to do it.

More woes for Wikipedia

The Washington City Paper had the key ingredients for a scandalous stink bomb of a story: Marion Barry, a sexual fling with an ex-aide and a scoop involving embarrassing voice mails.

Okay. I'm sure most of us have seen the City Paper for this week, or will see it after reading this story. I know they are supposed to be an "edgier" publication, but was this really necessary? We can all fill in the blanks and could've read between the lines to know what the headline said without seeing certain words clear as day. I'm not a prude, but that was a bit much. What do you all think?

At least they're trying...

An interesting discussion of the ethics of newspapers receiving money from the feds.

When does collecting Internet user information for targeted advertising cross the line? Can the online advertising community police itself?

As more journals shift from being run by university presses and scholarly societies to corporate entities, the goal is better management, better sales (since packages of journals are frequently sold together) and economies of scale. The fear of some involved in journal publishing is that corporate interests will limit the role of scholars in making key decisions.

Government interference with journalism is a problem, but how do you address it in countries with different forms of government and views on freedom?

SC Governor Mark Sanford Released from Book Contract