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| Volume 49, Number 2, Summer 2000 |
by Bob Finn
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There's something about science articles in the New York Times that seems to trigger long debates in the e-mail lists. A couple of years ago, Gina Kolata's article on Judah Folkman's angiogenesis inhibitors and how they were going to cure cancer within two years (tick, tick, . . .) generated a massive discussion, available in an edited form starting at http://nasw.org/cancer1.htm. This time it was an article by Natalie Angier on the genetics of race. The theme of the article was that there is little if any biological reality to the division of humanity into different races, that a close examination of genetic differences does not sort humanity into the same racial groupings that society does on the basis of skin color and general appearance.
John Travis started the discussion on Aug. 22 by saying, "It's a perfectly nice article but it's one of those that make me ask: Why write this story now? The story is an old one and my quick read of Angier's version didn't reveal any real new data to address the topic. . . . Am I wrong to expect some news value in the New York Times, or should I simply consider the Science Times section to be a feature magazine?"
The consensus of opinion on John's specific question seemed to be that it was perfectly fine for the Times to run feature articles not pegged to any specific news item. Moreover, said a number of posters, while this subject may be old news to the cognoscenti, ordinary citizens are confronted with the reality of race constantly, so it is likely surprising to most people that race has little biological meaning.
The discussion soon expanded, however, as posters brought up supposed biological differences among the races, such as increased levels of hypertension among blacks or the dominance of certain racial groups in certain sports. Others countered those arguments, saying that increased rates of disease more often correlate with socioeconomic or cultural factors, and a genetic basis for athletic prowess seems to arise not in entire races, but in much smaller groups, such as a village or a tribe.
To follow this discussion in the nasw-talk archives at http://nasw.org/lists/, look for the subject header "NYTimes story on genetics of race."
nasw-freelance
Steven Brill, editor of Brill's Content magazine, probably expected his new web site, Contentville.com, to make a splash. Instead the sound he heard was more like the anguished screams of legions of free-lance writers.
It was Steve Hart who first mentioned Contentville in nasw-freelance on July 10. Several days later Catherine Dold pointed out that the site was selling several of her copyrighted articles from Discover magazine with, apparently, no intention of cutting her in on the proceeds. Catherine began contacting the powers that be at Contentville, Discover, and several other writers' organizations. Many other writers chimed in on nasw-freelance with similar stories, and then articles began appearing in general publications, such as The New Yorker and Editor and Publisher. The National Writers Union got involved, and the next thing that was heard was the sound of Brill's furious back-pedaling.
It seems that Contentville was acquiring its content from aggregators who in turn acquired the text of thousands of articles from magazine publishers. Jeff Hecht may have hit the nail on the head when he wrote, "I suspect what's really happening at many magazines is that NOBODY back on Planet Salary has been keeping track of who owns what rights to non-staff articles. . . . There may be a file of signed contracts that nobody has gone through in years. . . . When somebody comes up to a magazine and says they'd like to license reprints, the publisher is likely to say sure, if you pay such-and-such. A reprint vendor like Contentville can only take the publishers' word that they have the rights. The publishers probably never thought about it."
Well, this issue has now been brought to Brill's attention, and he seems to be doing the right thing. He has reportedly concluded an agreement with the NWU. Under that agreement writers who assert ownership of articles can choose either to have their articles removed from Contentville or to receive payment for them through the NWU's Publication Rights Clearinghouse.
The nasw-freelance discussion took place under many different headers, most of which included the word "Contentville."
nasw-pr
The nasw-pr mailing list is typically much quieter than the other two, but it does have bursts of activity. Walter Neary sparked one recent nuts-and-bolts discussion when he said that he was considering the purchase of a digital media directory, and wondered whether anyone had good or bad stories about such directories. Most of the resulting stories were bad, with both Bacon's and Burrelle's coming under criticism. Some posters noted that media-directory software tended to be frustrating and slow, and others pointed out that directory listings often contain errors. Just about the only positive recommendation came from James Hathaway, who has had good experiences with Media Map online.
To follow this discussion, look for the headers "media directories on CD-ROM" and "media directories, Media Map" in the archive.
Bob Finn moderates the Web site and e-mail lists of the National Association of Science Writers http://www.nasw.org. His e-mail address is cybrarian@nasw.org.