Thursday, December 17, 2009
VEERing Away From Good Journalism Ethics
Words Jesse Scaccia
Thursday, December 17th, 2009 at 10:39 am
If VEER Magazine is the future of print journalism–as its editor/publisher, Jeff Maisey, has been telling people–then print journalism is in a lot of trouble.
The latest issue of VEER.
The covenant between reader and journalist is built on one thing, and one thing only: trust. And VEER broke that trust big-time in their latest issue.
On page 6 of the December 2009 issue there is an article titled “Retail Success Story” about Texture; the funky, crafty, gentle-vibed shop below Elliott’s Fair Grounds in Ghent. At first glance it’s what we call in the business a fluff piece. Texture is a nice place, so the story is nice. There’s no muckraking; the story is supporting a good business in our community, and that’s fine. Here are the first few lines:
As you open the door, you’re greeted with a plethora of colors from wall to wall. The mixture of metal, iron, fibers, glass and stone astounds you. The rich aroma of coffee draws your attention upstairs, but you meander on as big band music from the ’40s serenades you in the background. As you allow your eyes to wander around every inch of the room, you realize this store is unlike any other…
And so on. It’s a fluff piece; no big deal, right?
Well, not quite. The article was written by a Texture employee. And nowhere in the article does it say that.
Were this article labeled as an ‘advertorial’, this would be an entirely different story. But in the absence of that, this is what we call in the journalism world a conflict of interest. Which anyone in any industry would call unethical.
And it makes us all look really, really bad.
When a reader picks up a newspaper they do so under the conceit that what they’re about to read will be fair and unbiased. Of course bias can take a lot of forms. Say, writing about a relative, or somebody you have a personal beef with, or writing about someone or something with whom you share a business interest. This is not to say that journalists cannot write about issues and people they have pre-existing opinions about; on the contrary, biased writing can be the most fun. AltDaily, for example, is filled with the kind of writing that would be called op-ed, first-person perspectives, citizen journalism and advocacy journalism. But the key is that the writer has to state his or her bias upfront.
So let me be clear: it may seem that my bias in writing this piece, which you are now reading, is to assault a competitor; VEER. I will fully admit that I have had and withheld criticisms of VEER for some time. However, I am airing these criticisms now, in light of this particular article, because as a journalist I believe this breach of ethics needs to be reported.
Writing about your boss and the place where you work is clearly a violation of that covenant that I believe all journalists and editors are required to regard as sacred. The writer of the Texture article had an obvious bias that the editor should have made her come clean about.
What are newspapers when bias goes unmentioned? They become nothing. They become ad rags, propaganda machines. They fall prey to lies and money-making strategy and stabs in the back and self-indulgent ego-boosting. They’re like a cheating husband swearing up and down that he’s been faithful. They become, ultimately, the capitalist wolf in Truth’s clothing.
In my opinion, without unbiased writers, newspapers are not worth the shit that gathers on them at the bottom of birdcages.
In principle I agree with Mr. Maisey that papers like VEER are the future of journalism–but to no credit of their own. The big monoliths of print journalism are closing down left and right, which will mean a return to more ‘mom-and-pop’ establishments like VEER. And, to VEER’s credit, it is hard out there for the little guy. At a big paper like The Pilot you have a clear wall between editorial and sales. But when you’re the editor/publisher, you’re selling while you’re reporting. It’s tricky. There are only so many businesses with advertising dollars, and there are only so many businesses to write about. I know from my own experience that it’s a very fine line.
But it’s a fine line we all must walk with diligence, pride, and with the knowledge that if we fall, the public’s trust falls with us.
Something I believe in my heart and in my mind is that democracy does not function without a strong press. Not to get all grandiose, but America needs journalists to be honest. Because without us, who can you believe?
I spoke with the writer of the article, who is a very sweet, good-hearted acquaintance of mine, and who is admittedly green in the journalism business. She was open about not being sure of the rules around this kind of thing, and the VEER people never mentioned it.
I could go on about VEER and Jeff Maisey. I could write more about how he’s gotten in trouble for doing this kind of thing before. I could talk about how he is calling VEER an independent alternative, but he’s done that before with Ninevolt, a supposedly ‘indie’ mag that he and partners ended up selling to Landmark. And I could really criticize the way that VEER seems to have climbed into the still-warm corpse of Port Folio and took it all–the fonts, the layout, the style–slapped a new name on the front, and started acting like there’s a new boss in town.
We at AltDaily want to be as transparent as possible about our relationships with the subjects we write about–whether they are personal or business. And to be perfectly honest with you, we can and need to do a better job with that whenever the situation arises.
But what VEER did with this Texture article was just plain wrong. A seasoned “professional” like Jeff Maisey should–and certainly does–know better.
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ABOUT THE WRITER
Jesse is the editor in chief of AltDaily, and he's going to take this bio seriously, but not so seriously that he's going to continue in the third person. I've been involved with a bunch of local projects and civic groups in various roles, including: Hampton Roads, The Canvas; Art | Everywhere, Street Performance in Norfolk; Survive Norfolk; Hampton Roads Pride/Out in the Park; Bike Norfolk; re:Vision Norfolk, and such.
I originally came to Norfolk as a Perry Morgan fellow in ODU's creative writing program. Before that I bummed around quite a bit, writing stacks of books that never got published, hitchhiking, couchsurfing, riding the Greyhound up down and back across this country. Some of my favorite jobs and volunteer gigs have included working on organic farms in Ireland; being first mate on an old sail boat in Holland; working at a long-term home for young men in South Africa; being a journalist and high school teacher in New York and California; washing dishes in Yosemite National Park; teaching English in DC and swimming in Florida; and interning at ESPN in Bristol, which was much less cool that you'd want it to be. My career highlights have been having three of my op-eds run in the New York Times, and being the executive producer of a six-part docu-drama on BET. Because school is cool I have three master's degrees (ODU for MFA, NYU for magazine journalism, University of Connecticut for secondary English education). I live in Norfolk because I believe in its potential. Email your ideas or nicely couched criticism to jesse@altdaily.com.
Other posts by Jesse Scaccia.
Other posts by Jesse Scaccia.
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I haven’t seen the Veer piece yet, but I agree that it should have been identified as an advertorial and/or there should have been a disclosure that the author is an employee of the business being written about.
That said, *this* piece is the one that leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
If PortFolio were still around, Veer’s oversight might have warranted a short paragraph in the “brickbat” column — not a 1,000-word attack on someone who does a great service for the arts community.
I hope you’re wrong about Port Folio, Jim. This is a major ethical mis-step. The point is that this doesn’t seem to us like an oversight, but a conscious decision to not be upfront about this kind of thing.
Journalistic Ethics:
I’m all for Disclosure. Excepting, of course, my first and middle names. So, I have to ask, why is it they’re called “fluff” pieces. I always assumed it was that they’re intended to fluff or bulk up the content of a publication. Lately however, I’ve come to think the term may have, egh hmm, naughtier origins. In reality, aren’t these pieces meant to serve, in some regard, the same function as their namesake in the adult industry?
There’s nothing wrong with providing potential partners with some inducement; hopefully a relationship develops. But, is it reasonable, or desirable, for editors/publishers to disclaim this intent at the head of every fluff piece. Of course not.
Assuming Mr. Maisey was aware the writer was in the employ of his subject, he certainly erred in judgment, but it was about a clothing store or whatever the place is. Democracy will survive. Jesse, as much as I enjoy press battles, this article might have been better off in the blog section.
Oh, and OP-Ed stands for Opposite editorial. Like, where the letters to the editor or syndicated columns are.
One of the best things about any journal is its ability to correct itself and to clarify its actions. That’s part of how it retains the community’s trust. However, to your detriment, you didn’t give VEER that opportunity.
It’s a monthly, correct? What we see above is this month’s edition. If you had waited until the next edition, your argument would have been stronger. That is, if Mr. Maisey hadn’t clarified his actions in the next edition. Given your quick attack, we question your motives as well as Mr. Maisey’s.
As it is now, neither of you look very good. All we see is two struggling businesses attacking one another. And, that’s JUST what two struggling businesses need to do.
If you’re lucky you will drive readership with your controversy. If you’re unlucky, you will both be driven into the ground.
wow, I can’t believe you actually posted this
You crossed the line near the end when you said you could go on about Jeff
Really? Why would you want to do that?
Did he let someone from Simply Selma’s write about their Xmas ornaments???
Who cares?
I think you’ve confused transparency with sour grapes and it makes me sad that you have done this because you can’t take it back now, it’s out there and it’s ugly.
It doesn’t make Alt Daily better, just bitter
Wow…After an excellent article breaking the news of Malcolm Venable’s departure from The Virginian-Pilot, written by Hannah, Jesse, who is also a good writer, takes a step backwards with this heavy handed, self-righteous piece. Let me state my bias upfront. I am a frequent contributor to Veer and I happen to know Jeff Maisey very well. He is certainly a principled guy who clearly made a simple error. Things are not so rough at Veer where the public has to be intentionally misled in order to publish a single issue. And, at the very least, give the guy a chance to explain the oversight before you assault his character. I happen to believe that Veer and AltDaily both have unique strengths that actually compliment each other and help to fill the void left by Port Folio’s shuttering. So Jesse, can we all just get along???
I can say now that, if I had a rewrite, I would have handled this a bit differently. One of my writing mentors put it that I “use a sledge hammer on a ladybug.” Another trusted writer friend pointed out that even though my argument was valid, a piece of this fervor made it seem like the original VEER piece was about a corrupt politician and not some harmless (and very nice) shop. Points taken. I am, admittedly, not a master of grace… but I’m working on it.
You can’t unring the bell, Jesse.
For better or worse, you’ve positioned AltDaily — a one-stop shop for singles’ blogs, vegan recipes and Freedom Surf Shop advertorials — as the bastion of high-minded journalism. Be careful out there!
Oh Jim. Oh, dear Jim.
Saw you enjoyed the Paul Shugrue ‘best of’ article, no?
FYI, the Freedom Surf Report is not an advertorial. They don’t pay us to do that… we just think it’s useful.
Yes, I enjoyed Paul’s “best of” column, along with a lot of other features on this site — and in Veer. My point is that both have their “fluff,” but both should be able to coexist — peacefully.
Agreed.
Actually, I thought this was dead on. it IS sloppy. it IS sticky and messy. I don’t know Jeff and don’t read VEER. I’m sure his intentions were, ulitmately, good. But that kind of thing IS a big breach of trust that diminishes faith in the publication. If we can’t trust him to disclose something simple like that, how can we trust his reporting on other issues? All he had to do was put, ‘written by XX employee,’ which, as a journalist, he certainly had to consider for at least a moment. Jesse did exactly what he should have done…
for the record…this is the 3rd or 4th go around for veer/veir… it’ll fade away soon enough on its own… it always does… i personally dont mind slanted magazines from time to time. they almost always have at least one good read. when bonn garrett started nine volt, it was decent, when maisey started veir the first 3 times, it was decent.
How about giving some credit back to the free platform that you are on even though it’s not required by the GNL it would be ethical to clean up your own backyard before you let your dog crap in the park