Track Changes
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Transcript of Track Changes
Whitney Sorensen Brother Gardner ELang 410 20 May 2011
Choose the Write: Ethics in Magazine Editing
This was a big week for me. I got a byline—for the first time. This summer, also for the
first time, I’m getting paid to be a writer. I think I’ve been dreaming of this day since I first said
the word “magnazine,” which I insisted for years to my parents was the correct pronunciation.
Okay, so I’m just an intern, but in my book, writing and editing for LDS Living magazine is a real
job. To get the position, I had to submit a resume and then interview with one of the editors.
Now, I have to commute to a big city (well, Salt Lake) to work in the downtown corporate
headquarters of a long-standing publishing company. They even gave me an elevator pass! This
is the big time.
When I used my elevator pass for the first time, I didn’t realize that the big time does
have a dark side. I’ve only been an intern for three weeks, but I’ve already seen issues I didn’t
even anticipate. I imagined that starting a new job would have its challenges, but I didn’t think
they would be ethical. I’m working for an LDS magazine—what are the ethics involved in ward
party tips and Family Home Evening lessons? The ethical issues may not concern our subject
matter (although sometimes they do, but more on that later), but they exist, and if this is to be my
career, I’ll have to face them. Knowing I will face the ethical editing issues of reporting facts
honestly and selecting the right stories to publish, I need to resolve now to have integrity
and civility as my primary goals.
But, back to the byline. I learned last week that part of the dark side of magazine editing
is a time crunch. Because LDS Living has both print and online magazines, they are constantly
producing new stories. With a staff of less than ten people, the interns get to do some of the
Goodrum� 5/23/11 9:20 AMFormatted: Font:Italic
Goodrum� 5/23/11 9:37 AMComment [1]: I changed it to italics, because without it, the sentence became a “garden path” sentence and I thought for a minute that LDS Living was your book!
writing, which means a story a week from here on until the end of the internship for me. I found
out about this first assignment on a Thursday afternoon and had to quickly compile some story
ideas so I could get moving for the deadline: Tuesday at noon. At first, I had a difficult time
contacting the sources I needed for my article. As the time kept ticking in my head, I faced a
dilemma: can I write the story anyway, even without all the facts?
To me, this is the first major issue of magazine editing: reporting facts honestly.
Publishing is a world full of deadlines, and often the concern exists that another magazine or
news source will publish the big story before you do. I heard that little voice in my head
whispering, “Go ahead. Publish the story. It’s fine if it’s mostly true.” Even if the deadline is not
imminent, writers and editors can still question the factuality of their articles because they have
sources giving conflicting answers. What’s a good editor to do?
The answer is creating a standard of integrity, an inner conviction that will combat the
voice of temptation. As President Hinckley writes in his compendium on the necessity of virtue,
Standing for Something, “The strength and safety of any organization . . . lie[s] in the integrity of
its members. Without personal integrity, there can be no confidence. Without confidence, there
can be no prospect of permanent success” (21). Publishing a “mostly factual” article to get ahead
of a competitor versus waiting on credible sources to confirm the truth is really a choice between
having many readers now but few later, or having a steadily growing audience of readers who
trust you. Economically, the second option just makes more sense. But I don’t see money as the
bottom line here. I think confidence is the more important result of integrity. When I submitted
my story on Tuesday, I’m happy to report that it was factually all there, my integrity sewn into
every word. I was proud of it, confident even.
Goodrum� 5/23/11 9:24 AMDeleted: first
Goodrum� 5/23/11 9:37 AMComment [2]: Was the assignment your first article or was it the story ideas? I wasn’t sure-‐ can we make this a little more clear?
Goodrum� 5/23/11 9:27 AMDeleted: if
My story was about the web reality series “The Mormon Bachelorette,” a take-off from
the notorious ABC series where scantily clad women compete for one rich, but naughty bachelor
in hopes of receiving an expensive diamond engagement ring. Doesn’t sound very Mormon, does
it? Well, the Mormon version is different. It’s basically a mixture of online and internet dating,
but the dates (which all fit Mormon standards and have the early curfew of ten o’clock) are
filmed and posted on the show’s blog. It was surprisingly successful and the first couple actually
got married in March. Now they’re starting the series up again for a new bachelorette, which was
the subject of my story. I went to sleep with more than a little anticipation on Tuesday night.
There’s that confidence again.
Wednesday morning dawned and I jumped out of bed to look online. There it was: my
name in lights, er, on the internet beneath the title of my article. Joy bubbled in my stomach. I
couldn’t have been happier. Until I read the comments at the bottom. “No Latter-day Saint
should be supporting that sleazebag show,” and, “This is the worst thing LDS Living has ever
come up with.” Ouch. It took about thirty seconds for me to envision myself getting fired the
next day, my elevator pass disintegrating in a puff of proverbial smoke. My gut reaction was to
try and post something back to them, maybe along the lines of, “Did you even read the article? I
said this show is totally different from the original?” But something made me stop, another little
voice—a good one this time.
Without even trying to, I had run straight into the second major issue in magazine editing:
picking the right stories for the readers. I hadn’t anticipated that some portions of our readership
would be appalled at any mention of the word “Bachelorette.” I thought they would say, “Isn’t it
great that more of our young single adults are finding ways to date and get married after leaving
college without spouses?” because, that’s what my reaction had been. But I needed to have a new
reaction here. One of civility.
Sure, I could have thrown a lot of angry words at those mean-spirited comments, but that
good little voice in my head said, “That won’t solve anything. Pause and let it rest.” Still, what
hurt the most was thinking that now with my name blazing at the top of this article, those people
thought I was that kind of girl—a very non-Mormon bachelorette. Knowing that I am not that
kind of person started me thinking a little more rationally. Again, the sage President Hinckley
has some words of wisdom for this situation, too, “The example of our virtuous living will carry
a greater influence than will all the preaching, postulating, and theorizing in which we might
indulge” (45). In the end, a commenter on an online article cannot get to know the author of that
article just through reading her words. Commenters may feel that judging that author is their
place, but throwing words back at them would be just an unnecessary war of words. If I know I
am right before God, have written about a positive thing, and have nothing to hide, they can say
whatever they like. And in fact, the surest way to undermine myself, and to draw attention away
from the truth reported in my article, would be to start slinging comments back and forth.
Civility was really my only option, and I’m glad to say I used it.
What have I learned in my first few weeks in the world of magazine editing? I think this
quote from President Hinckley sums it up: “Men and women of integrity understand intrinsically
that theirs is the precious right to hold their heads in the sunlight of truth, unashamed before
anyone” (34). At the end of that rollercoaster Wednesday, I was more than the owner of a brand-
new byline. I knew that I had done my job with integrity and civility—even if others had judged
me by the title of my article. Also, I knew I’d be just as careful next time about selecting an
Goodrum� 5/23/11 9:32 AMDeleted: Because
Goodrum� 5/23/11 9:37 AMComment [3]: Do you want this to be part of the sentence? Or standing alone? It works either way.
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Goodrum� 5/23/11 9:35 AMDeleted: my
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