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October
2000
- Profit
Loss
- Questia,
WebCT team for college service
- Pearson
tabs Advantage for quizzes
- Courier
buys Dover juvenile publisher
- Finance
text available at TAA e-List
- Follett
on-demand test delayed
- Some
Pearson royalty checks two weeks early
- Booktech
acquires coursepack firm
- Expert:
E-books not cheaper to produce
- McGraw
authors: Royalty checks on time
- Open
Book a success? It's an open book
- Pearson's
Open Book lacks assessment criteria
- Report:
Borders likes on-demand Sprout
- Oxford
sees on-demand future for backlist
- E-psyche
linkable on Academic Press
- Thomson
buys Brazil text publisher
- Texas
education leader to discuss censorship
- Stanford
Press steps up business titles
- Math
author appointed to No. 2 TAA post
- Stanfield:
List swaps not author's friend
- TAA
president: Mergers problematic for authors
- Harcourt
movie business in trouble
- Have
a wireless device? Check out Wiley titles
- Hire
an indexer? TAA panel to consider pros, cons
- Word
on the Street: New Harcourt bidder
- Does
UnCover owe you? File now
- Teachers
like Yahooligans web site
- Houghton
downgrades earnings projections
- Text,
professional, STM sales soaring
- Wiley
moving to New Jersey corporate center
- Big
publishers back page-download venture
- 19
books in Texty, McGuffey review
- Pesces:
No "either-or thinking" at Wiley
- Tippens
sees issues aplenty for authors
- Tippens
reviews his unfinished TAA agenda
- Textbook
database has new web address
- Texas
Christian scholar to JTAA editorial board
- Wiley
to occupy most of riverfront tower
- Screwed
or maximized? Rosenzweig opts for flipside
- Article:
El-hi publishers mess up facts, lie for sales, make campaign donations
- Profit
Loss
- TAA
on record against phantom-authoring
- Mandel
lays out Wisconsin Press strategy
- El-hi
school book error litany keeps growing
- Science
author on errors: Publisher did it
- NWU
sees Rightsworld.com deal as author empowerment
- Sylvan
buys Swiss hotel schools
- TAA
office moving down the hall
- McGraw
absorbs, trims Tribune acquisitions
- Scholastic,
Palm plan wireless downloading
- Reed
lays out $5.7 billion for Harcourt
- Questia
adds Barbara Bush as strategic adviser
- With
Harcourt, Thomson doubles college business
- J-group:
Libel suit could have been defended
- Journalists
group, authors settle libel suit
PROFIT
LOSS
Reed Elsevier:
Pre-tax profits fell 5.4 percent to $526.5 million for the first half,
compared to a year earlier.
Thomson Learning:
Sales rose 107 percent, more than double, to $20899 million in the second
quarter, compared to a year earlier.
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Questia, WebCT
team for college service
HOUSTON, Texas,
October 1, 2000
-- The college online service Questia entered a partnership with WebCT
to offer course management service to professors. Among services: Professors
can check references in student research papers through Questia's 50,000-title
online library. With the enhanced system, professors can distribute
syllabuses, lecture notes and reading materials to their students online.
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Pearson tabs
Advantage for quizzes
BOSTON, Massachusetts,
October 1, 2000
-- Advantage Learning, known for its Renaissance product line, will
produce quizzes for the Scott Foresman K-6 reading textbooks published
by Pearson Education, Pearson announced.
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Courier buys
Dover juvenile publisher
MINEOLA, New
York, October 1, 2000
-- Niche publisher Dover, which is active in children's math, science
and literature fields, was acquired by custom education publisher Courier
Corporation. The deal: $39 million cash.
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Finance text
available at TAA e-List
BETHEL, Connecticut,
October 1, 2000
-- A finance author, Roger S. Bennitt, placed his latest book for sale
on the TAA e-List for Books. Bennitt is offering Finance Guide with
Formulated Solutions for Excel for course adoptions at $70. The
276-page book includes a CD-ROM.
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Follett on-demand
test delayed
NEW YORK, October
2, 2000
-- Something's gone wrong with the Follett chain's experiment to install
on-demand book-printing equipment at four book stores. The equipment,
from wholesaler Sprout, was supposed to go in in August. Follett says
the deal is still on. Sprout spokesperson Henry Topping said the company
has some personnel and cash-flow problems.
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Some Pearson
royalty checks two weeks early
ST. PETERSBURG,
Florida, October 3, 2000
-- Pearson Education authors said they continue to receive their royalty
checks and statements earlier than latest possible date, September 30,
stated in their contracts. Two authors reportedly received their checks
two weeks earlier than usual this quarter. Pearson changed its royalty
mailing policy in March, promising to send checks out a week earlier
than in the past. TAA had surveyed its members in December on when they
received their checks and statements and found that many received them
up to a week later than the stated contract date. Pearson then promised
to get checks out at least a week earlier.
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Booktech acquires
coursepack firm
WOBURN, Massachusetts,
October 3, 2000
-- On-demand publisher Booktech, which produces custom textbooks and
coursepacks, acquired Copytron of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, another
coursepack provider. Copytron reported 1999 sales of $1.3 million.
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Expert: E-books
not cheaper to produce
NEW YORK, October
3, 2000
-- A lot of nonsense is floating around that e-books cost less to produce
than paper books, the head of Simon & Schuster's online publishing unit
told a conference. Kate Tentler said e-books actually cost more because
every part of the company has to change gears. Also, Tentler said, margins
are smaller. She blamed public expectations for less expensive books
on the news media, which has made so much content available free on
the web. Consumers need to be trained about the value of e-products,
she said.
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McGraw authors:
Royalty checks on time
ST. PETERSBURG,
Florida, October 4, 2000
-- McGraw-Hill authors received their royalty checks four to five days
earlier this quarter, according to a spot check by Text and Academic
Authors. One engineering author received his check on Sept 25, a full
five days ahead of past practice. "The last couple of years, they have
been on time or a couple of days early. Years ago, it was almost always
late, sometimes as much as a week." That chronic lateness that prompted
Text and Academic Authors to survey its members last year on when they
received their royalty checks. TAA found that many authors were receiving
their checks up to one week later than the stated contract date. Told
of the TAA findings, McGraw-Hill reported that it had begun in January
of this year to mail its authors' checks and statements one week earlier
than the dates specified in authors' contracts.
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Open Book a success?
It's an open book
UPPER SADDLE
RIVER, New Jersey, October 4, 2000
-- How well is Pearson's Open Book Initiative doing to correct errors
in textbooks? Nobody knows. Wendy Spiegel, Pearson's quality control
vice president, confirmed that the company keeps no records on complaints
or how they're dealt with. Judge the project by our intentions, she
said. Spiegel declined to answer questions about the independent review
panel that was promised to review adopter complaints.
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Pearson's Open
Book lacks assessment criteria
UPPER SADDLE
RIVER, New Jersey, October 4, 2000
-- The Open Book Initiative, announced with great fanfare by Pearson
Education to rid textbooks of errors, turns out to be a mystery-shrouded
endeavor whose success is impossible to measure. Pressed for an update
on the 18-month-old initiative, Pearson's vice president of quality
and standards, Wendy Spiegel, said the initiative should be evaluated
as "our commitment to immediately acknowledge adopter/teacher inquiries
and then submit these inquiries for independent review." No data are
kept, she said.
A key to the Open
Book Initiative, announced in March 1999, was the independent review
of complaints. Is it working? The review board was supposed to be comprised
of authors, educational leaders and content experts. Whether it was
even empaneled is unclear. Spiegel turned away three explicit requests
for the names of people on the panel.
Tallies aren't kept
on the number of errors reported from adopters, the number that the
review panel agrees are errors, the number of errors posted for adopters
on the web, or the number of corrections that make it into reprints.
The importance of
the Open Book Initiative is the process -- not keeping a tabulation,
Spiegel emphasized.
To be sure, what
one person sees as a factual, grammatical or even typographical error
may not be what someone else sees as an error. "Not all inquiries are
actually errors," said Spiegel. "Many of these are interpretative passages
or represent different approaches to the subject matter."
Even so, the 18-month
track record -- or lack thereof -- gives new ammunition to critics.
William Bennetta of the Textbook League, a watchdog organization in
California, has said the initiative is hollow window-dressing designed
to get state adoption boards off Pearson's back. Bennetta has promised
an expose in a forthcoming issue of his newsletter.
Since the initiative
was announced, however, there have been changes on Pearson web sites.
A search of sites operated by Pearson's four main imprints, Prentice
Hall, Globe Fearon, Scott Foresman and Pearson Learning, found some
visible changes:
- Globe Fearon
has begun calling its "errors" "product updates." The company has
also posted this notice on its web
site: "Publishers typically reprint books several times over the
life of a copyright. Corrections are made in each printing. Thus,
depending on which printing of the products below that you have, corrections
may already appear in your book."
- Scott Foresman/Silver
Burdett Ginn now calls its "errors" "corrections and clarifications."
Globe Fearon has
posted "updates" to 10 biology, world geography, history, math, economics,
and English textbooks to date. Scott
Foresman has posted "corrections and clarifications" to more than
60 el-hi social studies, reading and language arts series in several
editions and grade levels. Prentice
Hall School has posted errors to eight of its math books or series,
54 of its science and health books, and 19 of its social studies texts.
Pearson Learning, which mainly sell preschool materials, has no errors
posted on its imprint sites
Pearson's plan to
rid its textbooks of errors is something, said Spiegel, it will continue
to do until its books are error-free: "I can say emphatically, that
the rigor and commitment to the best practices to ensure textbook accuracy
is a long term commitment."
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Report: Borders
likes on-demand Sprout
ANN ARBOR, Michigan,
October 5, 2000
-- Book wholesaler Sprout's print-on-demand printing system has impressed
executives at the Borders bookstore chain, insiders said. Borders has
been testing Sprout equipment. Sources said Borders is confident in
the future of its 19 percent equity stake in the company.
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Oxford sees on-demand
future for backlist
NEW YORK, October
6, 2000
-- The new publisher at Oxford University Press USA's Academic Division,
Niko Pfund, sees a new outlet for backlist books with print-on-demand
technology. Pfund said 18,000 active backlist titles lend themselves
to on-demand publication. The division produces about 250 titles a year
and distributes another 1,000 from Oxford operations outside the United
States.
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E-psyche
linkable on Academic Press
ALBUQUERQUE,
New Mexico, October 7, 2000
-- The psychology database company e-psyche will have its product available
through Harcourt's Academic Press, the company announced. E-psyche is
assembling a database of 4,000-plus psychology journals.
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Thomson buys
Brazil text publisher
TORONTO, October
8, 2000
-- Canada-based media giant Thomson bought a Brazilian textbook publisher,
Editoria Pioneira, which strengthens the Thomson presence in Portuguese
language products. Terms were not announced. Pioneria has 700 titles,
mostly in college-level business, computer science, economics, education,
math, psychology and science.
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Texas education
leader to discuss censorship
AUSTIN, Texas,
October 9, 2000
-- The president of the Texas Federation of Teachers, John Cole, will
be a panelist on textbook censorship at Text and Academic Authors' June
convention, program chair Paul Siegel said. Noting that the convention
is eight months away, Siegel said other panelists will be announced
soon. The convention is scheduled for June 8-9, following pre-convenbtion
workshops.
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Stanford Press
steps up business titles
PALO ALTO, California,
October 10, 2000
-- Stanford University Press plans 10 to 20 business titles a year under
a new imprint. The books, both in hardcover and trade paperback editions,
will be distributed by Cambridge University Press.
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Math author appointed
to No. 2 TAA post
TWIN FALLS, Idaho,
October 12, 2000
-- Veteran math author Mike Sullivan was named Text and Academic Authors'
interim vice president by President Peggy Stanfield. Sullivan succeeds
Paul Tippens, a Georgia physic author, who resigned because of a family
health situation. Stanfield said tha TAA Council concurred that Sullivan,
current TAA's treasurer, knows the asssociation and is artiuculate on
text and academic issues. Sullivan will serve in the interim position
until the June convention in San Antonio. He will stand for election
this spring as vice president and president-elect.
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Stanfield: List
swaps not author's friend
TWIN FALLS, Idaho,
October 13, 2000
-- Lists swaps, like the one between Longman and Allyn & Bacon, reduce
competition, diversity and royalties, the president of Text and Academic
Authors said. Swaps generally are detrimental to authors, Peggy Stanfield
said. Her advice: Be top of what's happening. She said TAA is doing
what it can: "We are making your voices heard by protesting, calling
attention to what is taking place in publishing, in print and verbally,
to the unfair practices that occur as acquisitions are made and titles
are swapped, and monopolies are created."
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TAA president:
Mergers problematic for authors
TWIN FALLS, Florida,
October 13, 2000
-- All mergers and acquisitions create more or less the same problems
for authors, but as more and more of these business transactions occur,
these problems become magnified, said Peggy Stanfield, president of
the Text and Academic Authors Association, in response to Pearson Education's
announcement that it has shuffled and reconfigured its Allyn & Bacon
and Addison Wesley Longman lists.
Pearson Education
descibed the swap as an effort "to provide greater sales coverage and
expertise for each company." Allyn & Bacon and Longman sales forces
will take over the representation of all texts in the social sciences,
the humanities and education. Addison Wesley and Benjamin Cummings sales
forces will take over the representation of all texts in the sciences,
math, business and other hard disciplines. Some discipline areas were
exchanged between Allyn & Bacon and Longman, said the company's spokesperson
Wendy Spiegal, "in order to allow each publishing company to focus on
their specialty disciplines."
This "list swapping"
said Stanfield, may help the publisher, but it is detrimental to the
author because it puts his or her book in a perilous position. Before
the list swap, Allyn & Bacon's top math books competed with Addison-Wesley
Longman's top math books. Now, each of the imprints' top math books
are thrown together. Competition is no longer an issue. In fact, the
top titles will begin competing in-house, and the only losers will be
the authors, Stanfield said.
"Publishers have
always looked for authors who could write a book that would compete
in the market with one of equal status, or one that would overtake and
exceed the competing book in sales," said Stanfield. That's standard
business practice, she says, and nothing is wrong with it: "In fact,
it has given many authors opportunities they may not have gotten otherwise.
It gave them leverage in negotiating a contract that was fair to them
in which both editor and author knew what the responsibilities and rights
of each were. The author also had a sense that the publisher cared about
their joint projects and would see that they were properly marketed
and distributed so that both could profit."
As the number of
publishers decreases, says Stanfield, so does competition, causing authors
to watch every word that is written into a contract and any implied
language that might be interpreted in different ways.
As the result of
mergers and buyouts, some changes have taken place, said Stanfield.
They include:
- Competition.
List-swaps become the norm and lessen competition among companies.
This means fewer titles and fewer choices for authors to look for
other publishers. All redundant titles will be pared regardless of
merit. The ones left will be those accepting the lease amount of royalties
to increase shareholders' profits.
- Royalties.
Royalty rates will be whatever the collective companies decide they
will be, leaving no wiggle room for authors.
- Shuffling.
Projects will be shuffled to new editors and/or divisions. The company
with which authors have worked for years may not be the company which
now holds the titles -- and all rights -- to your work. Remember,
too, that editors are also being shuffled around and are trying to
succeed in a new environment. They may not be interested in obtaining
the best contract for you as they are in hanging on to their jobs.
Royalties may become lost forever in the changeover, or changed to
the other company's specifications. Other contract wordings can be
manipulated which will not reflect the original content. Revisions
can be put on hold indefinitely, dependent upon decisions of the new
management.
- Diversity.
The loss to education in general, and students in particular.
They are the biggest losers. Diversity is a big issue on campuses
now, with fewere and fewer titles to choose from as time goes on.
There will be less and less diverse expressions or new approaches
and opinions from experts to enhance and expand knowledge of tomorrow's
leaders. The best and brightest of authors may drop out of the business
rather than be shuffled around to different companies.
Although he strongly
opposes list swaps that bring under one roof titles that had been competing
head-to-head with separate sales staffs because it would stifle competition,
Pearson author Ric Martini said swapping titles to allow sales reps
to carry more titles can sometimes be a plus for authors: "I think increased
efficiency benefits the authors -- they get more exposure and the company's
profit margin increases meaning more resources for marketing, etc.."
Former TAA president
John Vivian, who has written exclusively with Allyn & Bacon since 1989,
said while he admires the enthusiasm of his good friends at Allyn &
Bacon for the merging of lists with Longman, this kind of list-swapping
and merging is good in the long term only for the shareholders. "Mark
my words, within three years these newly merged Pearson lists will have
fewer titles than back when Allyn & Bacon and Longman were competing,"
he said. "This is not good for education and certainly not good for
authors."
"Sure, both Allyn
& Bacon and Longman now have multiple titles for many courses," said
Vivian, "but in aggregrate the total number will be less as time goes
on: This happened four years ago when Allyn & Bacon and Prentice Hall,
then under Paramount control, swapped and merged lists. It's happened
again and again throughout the industry -- a function of seeking ever
more efficiency in the marketplace."
The implications
for authors, he said, can be "sinister": "A publisher that finds itself
suddenly with a stable of half a dozen excellent books will want to
phase some out and publishers aren't so cavalier as to flip a coin to
decide which titles will go. All other things being equal, like the
quality of redundant titles, publishers consider factors like which
authors demand the lowest royalty rates. Guess who wins and loses on
that score? Yes, the lowest bidder. The books that are quirky but nontheless
valuable in a diverse marketplace are especially vulnerable."
The Pearson acquisition
of Simon & Schuster's textbook imprints last year, making it the most
powerful book publisher in the world, is following those dire predictions
that it would end up being just like all the otehr mergers before, Vivian
said. "We're all the poorer for it, you me, authors, students, adopters,
society as a whole -- everybody except the shareholders."
TAA has done what
it can to combat this problem, said Stanfield. "We at TAA hear from
our membership regarding what they might be able to do to preserve their
integrity and their books," she said. "We are making your voices heard
by protesting, calling attention to what is taking place in publishing,
in print and verbally, to the unfair practices that occur as acquisitions
are made and titles are swapped, and monopolies are created."
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Harcourt movie
business in trouble
NEWTON, Massachusetts,
October 15, 2000
-- The Harcourt General conglomerate, a major textbook publisher, announced
a $100 million charge against profits to cover losses from its beleaguered
General Cinema subsidiary. The charge will cover leases on older movie
houses that hemorrhaged money during the weak summer season. Spokesperson
Peter Farwell said the charge, as well as a filing by General Cinema
in bankruptcy court, will not affect the value of Harcourt stock materially
-- a key question in the pending sale of the company.
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Have a wireless
device? Check out Wiley titles
NEW YORK, October
15, 2000
-- Publisher John Wiley is making 750 frontlist professional and consumer
available for wireless receivers like Palm digital devices. Wiley said
the titles will be in a variety of digital formats for reading on eBooks,
Palms and various desktop platforms.
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Hire an indexer?
TAA panel to consider pros, cons
SAN ANTONIO,
Texas, October 15, 2000
-- An experienced textbook indexer, Kay Banning, will speak on the advantages
of professional indexing at Text and Academic Authors' June convention,
program chair Paul Siegel said. The panel will examine author-produced
and hired-out indexing alternatives, Siegel said. As one of the last
pre-publication tasks to be accomplished, authors are sometimes worn
out yet torn between doing it themselves or, depending on contract terms,
paying for someone else to do it.
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Word on the Street:
New Harcourt bidder
NEW YORK, October
16, 2000
-- Three investment groups have put together a consortium to bid for
Harcourt General, the conglomerate whose properties include a major
textbook enterprise, according to source on Wall Street. The consortium
is comprised on the Blackstone Group, Bain Capital Inc. and Thomas H.
Lee Co. Also expected to bid: McGraw-Hill, Reed Elsevier and Thomson.
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Does UnCover
owe you? File now
ST. PETERSBURG,
Florida, October 16, 2000
-- Text and academic authors with a stake in a $7.2 million class-action
settlement against the UnCover have until Oct. 27 to file their claims.
Ron Pynn, executive director of Text and Academic Authors, mailed a
letter to TAA members in September with instructions on how to file
a claim. "The procedure is simple," he said. The number of eligible
TAA members is impossible to calculate, but Pynn noted that UnCover
specialized in academic and technical articles. The Uncover site carries
8 million articles and adds about 5,000 a day.
Details: Complete
text of settlement agrement
Action: Instructions for
submitting claim
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Teachers like
Yahooligans web site
ROCKAWAY PARK,
New York, October 17, 2000
-- Teachers, librarians and school technology coordinators rank Yahooligans/Yahoo
the best web site for K-12, according to a survey by Education Market
Research. Ask Jeeves was second, Alta Vista third.
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Houghton downgrades
earnings projections
NEW YORK, October
17, 2000
-- Disappointing el-hi science sales in California have depressed Houghton
Mifflin earnings projections for the third quarter. Sales will be only
$477 million, 4 percent ahead of a year ago but less than the 10 percent
increase expected on Wall Street. The company said that while many California
schools delayed science purchases in the third quarter, school sales
should pick up in the fourth quarter.
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Text, professional,
STM sales soaring
WASHINGTON, October
17, 2000
-- Sales are running well ahead of a year ago in the genres in which
most text and academic authors write. Through August, el-hi sales were
up 25.5 percent. University press sales are fairly steady with rates
a year ago.
TEXTBOOK
AND ACADEMIC BOOK SALES
THROUGH AUGUST 2000
From Association of American Publishers compilations from 89 publishers
|
| El-hi
adoptions |
25.5
percent |
| STM
and business |
16.5
percent |
| College |
15.3
percent |
| University
press (hardback) |
0.3
percent |
| University
press (paperback) |
-0.8
percent |
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Wiley moving
to New Jersey corporate center
HOBOKEN, New
Jersey, October 18, 2000
-- Book publisher John Wiley & Sons chose a waterfront site for its
new corporate headquarters. The building is scheduled for completion
by September 2002, giving six months or so for staff to move from Manhattan.
The company's Manhattan lease, at 605 Third Avenue, expires in April
2003.
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Big publishers
back page-download venture
SUNNYVALE, California,
October 18, 2000
-- Three major publishers, McGraw-Hill, Pearson and Random House, have
put money into a new venture, ebrary, which will allow consumers to
download information a page at a time. Browsing ebrary will be free,
but downloads will run 15 to 25 cents a page.
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19 books in Texty,
McGuffey review
ST. PETERSBURG,
Florida, October 18, 2000
-- Nineteen textbook and learning packages are being considered for
this years McGuffey and Texty awards from Text and Academic Authors,
said project manager Janet Tucker. Publishers are being asked to nominate
the works that have this far been identified, Tucker said. The nomination
deadline: November 1. Textys recognize excellence in recent titles.
McGuffeys recognize books whose excellence has been demonstrated over
past 15 years or more.
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Pesces: No "either-or
thinking" at Wiley
NEW YORK, October
18, 2000
-- Publisher John Wiley & Sons is proceeding into the future with both
print and electronic products, chief executive John Pesces told shareholders.
"No limiting either-or thinking but a powerful combination," he said.
Pesces said the company continues to focus on must-have content that
will draw customers. He said operating margins are at 15 percent, a
year ahead of schedule.
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Tippens sees
issues aplenty for authors
POWDER SPRINGS,
Georgia, October 19, 2000
-- Reflecting on his hopes for Text and Academic Authors, Paul Tippens
sees attacks on intellectual property rights as the most debilitating
and serious problem facing authors. It had been on his agenda as TAA
vice president and president-elect until he was forced to resign for
family health reasons in September. "The constant attacks on the fundamental
rights to intellectual property, it seems to me, places the author at
the bottom of almost any list I could make," he said. A bevy of contract
issues also need resolution, he said.
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Tippens reviews
his unfinished TAA agenda
POWDER SPRINGS,
Georgia, October 19, 2000
-- Paul Tippens, who stepped down as the Text and Academic Authors'
vice president last month to take care of his ailing mother, said he
is excited that TAA treasurer Mike Sullivan has agreed to take his place.
Sullivan us wearing hats as both treasurer and interim vice president
through the association's spring elections.
About his own shortened
term, Tippens said he had had high hopes. He had agreed to be nominated,
he said, because he saw TAA as "a major player in guaranteeing a voice
for authors in the new millennium." When he took on the vice-presidency,
said Tippens, it was because he was "committed to the organization and
its mission of providing information, advice, and networking for creators
of intellectual property in all of its forms."
Tippens remains
convinced that TAA can make a difference on issues and problems facing
authors today: "It has done so in the past, and the leadership now in
place is very capable of continuing that effort."
Among problems that
Tippens sees:
- Lack of publisher
participation in TAA's recent conventions, including the snub by Pat
Schroeder, president of the Association of American Publishers in
1999 when Tippens was convention chair.
- Publishing house
mergers that have adversely affected authors.
- Electronic packaging
of authors' works without their knowledge.
- Agreements reached
without authors' participation.
- Shorter and shorter
revision cycles.
- Publisher demands
for lower royalties.
- Lack of action
against booksellers that wholesale authors' used books.
- Publishers' refusal
to establish reversion clauses or to relax competing works restrictions.
"The constant attacks
on the fundamental rights to intellectual property, its seems to me,
places the author at the bottom of almost any list I could make," he
said.
One reason that
he is so committed to TAA, said Tippens, is that it seems to be the
only organization of creators who may provide an effective voice for
authors. "Publishers are not our enemy, bookstores are not our enemy,
electronic publishing is not our enemy, students and universities are
not our enemy, but where are our friends and companions in arms who
will take up our causes? The answer I fear is, in the words of Al Capp
in 'Pogo': 'We have met the enemy, and they is us.'"
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Textbook database
has new web address
PRINCETON, New
Jersey, October 20, 2000
--A database that identifies the adopters of thousands of college textbooks
nationwide, Monument Information Resource, has a new web address for
college professors: facultyonline.com.
In exchange for access, people need to provide professional data about
themselves into the MIR database. Text and Academic Authors members
without a college affiliation, need to request a password through an
e-mail link to MIR on the web site.
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Texas Christian
scholar to JTAA editorial board
CARBONDALE, Illinois,
October 21, 2000
-- The director of assessment at the Texas Christian University business
school, Gay Wakefield, was appointed to the editorial board of the new
Journal of Text and Academic Authoring, editor Donna Besser Stone
announced. Wakefield has written dozens of research articles, professional
presentations, and desktop manuals. Before joining Texas Christian in
1997, Wakefield headed public relations and advertising curricula at
Central Missouri State University, Southern Illinois University and
Butler University, She holds bachelor's and master's degrees from Texas
Christian and a doctorate in higher education from East Texas State
University.
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Wiley to occupy
most of riverfront tower
HOBOKEN, New
Jersey, October 22, 2000
-- Publisher John Wiley & Sons has signed a lease for 400,000 square
feet of one of the new Waterfront Corporate Center office towers in
Hoboken. Wiley will occupy four-fifths of the 14-story 550,000-square
foot tower directly across from midtown Manhattan. The entire corporate
center includes two matching towers, a 300-room hotel, 500-plus apartments,
125,000 square feet of retail space at the edge of 400 feet of the Hudson
River. The location provides the company with better and more economical
space than its current location, said Wiley spokesperson Susan Spilka:
"The new, light, airy contemporary workspace will be more conducive
to collaborative working." More than 850 employees will move to the
new headquarters, a five-minute train ride from Manhattan.
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Screwed or maximized?
Rosenzweig opts for flipside
WALNUT CREEK,
California, October 23, 2000
-- When royalty auditor Paul Rosenzweig was asked to do "your thing"
at a local authors' gathering, he suggested the title "How to Read Your
Royalty Statement." The author putting the program together wanted more
pizzazz. He suggested: "How to Find Out How Badly You've Been Screwed
in Your Royalty Statements." In the end, at Paul's insistence, the title
was sanitized down to "How to Maximize your Royalty Revenue in the Contract
and After Publication." Said Paul: "My usual soft approach!"
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Article:
El-hi publishers mess up facts, lie for sales, make campaign donations
NEW YORK, October
23, 2000
-- The latest journalistic exposé on el-hi textbooks, by David McClintick
in the October 30 issue of Forbes, goes beyond factual errors
to deal with how aggressively and sometimes dishonestly publishers go
to land adoptions. In one California case, McClintick reported, a Scott
Foresman vice president, Elizabeth Jimenez, submitted a revision of
a massive science package with a cover letter that claimed the company
had made "an all-out effort to comply with all the changes suggested"
by critics. Instead of changes, though, the package was filled with
blank pages with notations "Lesson to be Inserted." The Jimenez cover
letter also said that the revisions were being reviewed by noted biologist
Stan Metzenberg. Asked about his contribution, Metzenberg said he had
never seen the material. The Scott Foresman package, submitted over
the busy Christmas holidays, might have been accepted unreviewed by
the state adoption board had it not been for one especially attentive
high school teacher, McClintick said. His article also found blood on
other porches. He reported that Delaine Eastin, the California superintendent
of public instruction, sought and received campaign contributions from
publishers. Eastin oversees the state adoption process, which, McClintick
reported, knowingly approves seriously flawed books.
FORBES
EXPOSÉ
ARTICLE TITLE: The
Great American Textbook Scandal.
SUBTITLE: The nasty
scrap inside California's process for picking its public school textbooks
shows why publishers and educrats must share the blame for poor text
results.
TAA POSITION
Text and Academic Authors has long opposed the phantom-authoring of
books, a common practice in el-hi publishing in which packagers, not
experts in an academic discipline, put together books and learning packages.
Content deficiencies identified by Forbes reporter David Clintick appear
mostly the result of phantom-authoring.
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PROFIT LOSS
Harcourt:
El-hi sales rose 47.5 percent to $388.3 million in the third quarter,
compared to a year earlier.
Harcourt:
College revenue rose 7.0 percent to $128.8 million in the third quarter,
compared to a year earlier.
Harcourt: STM
sales rose 7.9 percent to $194.3 million in the third quarter, compared
to a year earlier.
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TAA on record
against phantom-authoring
ST.PETERSBURG,
Florida, October 24, 2000
-- With recent attention on phantom-authoring, the Text and Academic
Authors Association reiterated its long standing position against the
practice. The position was drafted in 1993 by political science author
Ron Pynn as chair of the Ethics Committee, refined by the committee
under its new chair, speech pathology author Dan Boone, and approved
by the TAA Council, the association's governing board, in January 1994.
The statement:
"There
has been a growing phenomenon in the publishing industry of phantom
authoring of elementary and secondary school textbooks. The textbooks
are written by a development team either internal or external to particular
publishing houses. However, credibility and prestige for these developed
textbooks are given by adding an author's name as having authored the
text. Often, this author had no or little responsibility for writing
the text material. This practice of using phantom authors is unethical.
Authors should not allow their names to be placed upon a textbook that
they did not write or participate in writing as members of a team of
authors. The Text and Academic Authors Association (TAA) condemns this
practice as an unethical breach of professional duties and responsibilities
by authors and publishers. Students, teachers, schools, and the public
in general have the right to know who wrote the text materials they
are using.Truth and honesty are fundamental to the academic endeavor
of writing and publishing textbooks. The Text and Academic Authors Association
believes the appending of phantom-author names to published works in
an unethical practice in the publishing industry. Further, the practice
harms the credibility of the educational process in the United States.
TAA calls upon all authors and publishing companies to desist immediate
the practice of using phantom authors."
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Mandel lays out
Wisconsin Press strategy
MADISON, Wisconsin,
October 24, 2000
-- The new director of the University of Wisconsin Press, Robert Mandel,
wants to revive the operation into a leading house. Mandel said his
strategy is to lean on strengths in history, Jewish studies and sociology.
With a $1.5 million capital reserve fund and two more acquisition editors,
he said he intends to compete more aggressively for titles. At the same
time, he said, he wants a lean operation that does its own in-house
composition.. Besides the new acquisition editors, Mandel plans to hire
a fund-raiser.
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El-hi school
book error litany keeps growing
NEW YORK, October
24, 2000
-- Despite repeated complaints about errors in el-hi school books, publishers
still seem unable to get it right. Journalist David McClintick, writing
in the current Forbes, adds to the litany:
- In Prentice Hall's
Exploring the Universe, photos of Earth's moon passing through
its phases are reversed.
- Exploring
the Universe says the moon probably is a fragment of Earth torn
out of the Pacific Ocean by a giant meteor strike, a theory that's
been discredited for more than 30 years.
- Exploring
the Universe said the U.S. Lunar Orbiter took the first photos
of the backside of Earth's moon, when actually a Soviet craft had
take them.
- Prentice Hall's
Science Explorer Astronomy refers to a book from 800 B.C.,
before books existed.
- Science Explorer
Astronomy says earth rotates around the Sun, when actually Earth
rotates on its access and revolves around the sun.
- Holt Rinehart's
Holt Science and Technology says protons are helium nuclei,
when actually they're hydrogen nuclei.
- Science Technology
says that nuclear energy was first suggested as the sun's energy source
in 1899, when actually it was in the 1930s.
High school chemistry
teacher Richard Schwartz is quoted Forbes, as finding 30 errors
in 100 pages of one science text. This is nothing new. Ten years ago,
the Texas adoption board reamed publishers for errors. Two years ago
ABC on "20/20" went after them again. Just ahead of the ABC revelations,
fully aware they were coming, mega-publisher Pearson announced an initiative
to facilitate the reporting and fixing of errors, but it appears not
be working.
FORBES'
SUMMARY
In a summary paragraph in his indicting Forbes article on
el-hi publishing practices, David McClintick wrote:
"It isn't just
Prentice Hall, owned by Pearson Plc., that churns out rubbish for our
children to learn by. "Scott Foresman, another Pearson company, Holt
Rinehart and a range of other publishers are guilty of producing textbooks
condemned bye experts for their errors and omissions.
"The whole $4 billion
elementary and secondary textbook industry has the problem.
"In the intensely
lobbied textbook selection process in states like California, intellectual
content takes a back seat to salesmanship, political correctness, self-esteem
for students and the need to dumb-down lessons so that one product can
capture a large market."
FROM FORBES
QUOTES
Leslie Peterson, president, Novato, California, School Board:
"Scott Foresman is a really sleazy operation. It makes the fashion industry
look like kindergarten."
Diane Ravitch,
a leading historian and analyst of education: "You get a snappy visual
package, but it's more like a comic book. The packaging overwhelms the
content."
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Science author
on errors: Publisher did it
WILLIAMSTOWN,
Massachusetts, October 24, 2000
-- Astronomer Jay M. Pasachoff, whose Science Explorer Astronomy
is a major player in junior-high textbooks, knows that Earth revolves,
not rotates, around the sun, but his book says it wrong. How? Pasachoff,
highly respected in his field, certain knows better. Asked about the
error, and numerous others in the Prentice Hall book, Pasachoff said
changes were made after the manuscript left his hands. Pasachoff, of
Williams College, was on the spot after the errors were reported during
the California adoption process, pointing up, say critics, that the
el-hi business has become more a publisher's packaging endeavor than
an author's educational enterprise.
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NWU sees Rightsworld.com
deal as author empowerment
NEW YORK, October
25, 2000
-- The National Writers Union signed an agreement with Rightsworld.com
for writers to post and sell their own works. Jonathan Tasini, Union
president, described the deal as a new model for publishing, putting
authors, not publishers, in the position to initiate publication. He
told the trade journal Publishers Weekly: "Publishers traditionally
sit on the rights of out-of-print books, rights that are never exploited.
Now writers can initiate things.
A NEW ORDER
Tasini to PW: "Rightsworld.com has a different model, and anything
that shakes up the centralization of publishing and gives writers more
power, I'm for."
Details:
NWU announcement
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Sylvan buys Swiss
hotel schools
ZURICH, Switzerland,
October 26, 2000
-- The U.S.-based educational services company, Sylvan Learning, bought
Les Rches hotel management schools. Terms were not announced.
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TAA office moving
down the hall
ST. PETERSBURG,
Florida, October 26, 2000
-- Member communication with the Text and Academic Authors headquarters
at the University of South Florida-St. Petersburg may be interrupted
for a few days by an office move, said Ron Pynn, executive director.
The offices are being relocated four doors down the hall in Davis Hall.
"This means telephone and computers will be down for a few days until
new work orders are cut and work people can get the hookups installed,"
Pynn said. Telephone numbers and e-mail address will be unchanged, "but
don't expect a quick turnaround," Pynn said. The TAA news site, usually
updated daily, will be unaffected by the move.
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McGraw absorbs,
trims Tribune acquisitions
NEW YORK, October
28, 2000
-- The Education Division president at McGraw-Hill, Bob Evanson, said
"considerable savings" are coming from the integration of recently acquired
the old Tribune Education holdings into McGraw. Tribune units are being
absorbed into existing McGraw divisions, with one exception. The Wright
Group will continue as a stand-alone unit, Evanson said. A question
mark is the Tribune's Landoll Division, which included education, mass
market and printing units. Evanson said he may want to retain the Landoll
education operation, but the printing operation is already closed down.
Some other parts of Landoll, like its Nickelodeon license, has been
sold.
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Scholastic, Palm
plan wireless downloading
NEW YORK, October
29, 2000
-- Wireless Palm hand-hold devices will become delivery vehicles for
educational content, under a new partnership between publisher Scholastic
and Palm. Scholastic will download lesson plans, event calendars, reports
on topical events and news to el-hi teachers and pupils.
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Reed lays out
$5.7 billion for Harcourt
NEWTON, Massachusetts,
October 29, 2000
-- Europe-based publishing giant Reed Elsevier bought U.S. publisher
Harcourt in a complex deal that gives most of Harcourt's college titles
to Thomson of Canada. Reed will keep Harcourt's science units, which
will give it such venerable imprints as Saunders, Mosby and Academic
Press. Reed, which has long coveted the U.S. school market, will keep
Harcourt's el-hi operations and instantly become the fourth largest
U.S. el-hi publisher. Reed paid $4.5 billion cash. In addition, Reed
assumed $1.2 billion in Harcourt debt. Reed expects to save some $70
million at Harcourt over the next two years. Some savings will come
from closing the Harcourt Newton, Massachusetts, headquarters and nearby
operations.
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Questia adds
Barbara Bush as strategic adviser
HOUSTON, Texas,
October 30, 2000
-- The online academic research service Questia Media named former First
Lady Barbara Bush, a literacy advocate, to its new advisory council.
Other members include Sidney Verba, Harvard University library director,
John Seely Brown, Xerox chief scientist, and Clifford Lynch, director
of the Coalition for Networked Information. Council members will serve
advise on strategic objectives. Questia, scheduled for launch early
next year, will provide subscribing college undergraduates with unlimited,
simultaneous online access to 50,000 liberal arts scholarly books and
journals.
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With Harcourt,
Thomson doubles college business
TORONTO, October
30, 2000
-- Media conglomerate Thomson vaulted into new status as the largest
U.S. textbook publisher, moving ahead of Britain-based Pearson, by buying
most of the Harcourt college business. In a complex deal, Thomson paid
$2.1 billion to Reed Elsevier, which acquired ball of Harcourt but didn't
want most of the college list. Thomson, a Canadian company, had been
the fourth largest textbook publisher in the United States with sales
of $253.4 million a year. With Harcourt, Thomson's U.S. college sales
will approach $666 million.
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J-group: Libel
suit could have been defended
INDIANAPOLIS,
Ind., Oct. 31, 2000
-- The Society of Professional Journalists said it had legal advice
that it could have won a libel suit by a Texas television anchor over
a case study in an ethics textbook but decided to settle "to avoid the
cost of protracted and unnecessary litigation." The statement appears
in an unsigned Q-A article about the suit in the October-November issue
of the society's magazine, Quill. The article also quoted the
settlement agreement: "The Agreement shall not constitute an admission
of liability by any of the Defendants, and Defendants expressly deny
any liability whatsoever." The article said the defense expenses ran
$84,000, all of which was covered beyond a $5,000 deductible. The society
agreed to pay the legal fees of the Texas anchor, Mike Snyder, about
$17,900.
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Journalists group,
authors settle libel suit
INDIANAPOLIS,
Ind., Oct. 31, 2000
-- Here is the statement in settling a libel suit over the textbook
Doing Ethics in Journalism, as it appeared in Quill, the Society
of Professional Journalists' magazine:
GENERAL
RELEASE AND SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT
This General Release
and Settlement Agreement (the "Agreement") is hereby entered into between
Plaintiff Mike Snyder ("Mr. Snyder" or "Plaintiff"), and Defendants
Viacom, Inc. ("Viacom"), The Poynter Institute for Media Studies, Inc.
("The Poynter Institute"), Allyn and Bacon, Inc. ("Allyn and Bacon"),
Robert M. Steele, John J. Black, and Ralph Barney (collectively, "the
Authors"), James M. Naughton, and the Society of Professional Journalists
("the Society") (collectively "Defendants").
WHEREAS, on March
21, 2000, Plaintiff filed a lawsuit against the Defendants for defamation,
infliction of emotional distress, and business disparagement in the
District Court for Tarrant County, Texas, Cause No. 153-182398-00 (the
"Lawsuit"); and
WHEREAS, no Court
has determined the merits of Plaintiff's claims or the defenses asserted
by Defendants; and
WHEREAS, the Plaintiff
and Defendants desire to resolve the claims out of court;
NOW, THEREFORE,
in consideration of the mutual promises herein contained, together with
other good and valuable consideration, the receipt and sufficiency of
which are hereby acknowledged by Plaintiff and Defendants, the parties
hereto, intending to be legally bound, hereby agree as follows:
1. GENERAL RELEASE:
Plaintiff, on behalf of himself, his heirs, personal and legal representatives,
successors, assigns, and anyone claiming through him, hereby releases,
discharges and agrees to hold harmless each and every Defendant, their
agents, assigns, employees, directors, successors, servants, heirs,
and affiliated companies, for any and all existing or future claims,
demands, costs, expenses, actions, and causes of action, both at law
and in equity, stemming from or arising out of any actions of or any
publication made by Defendants up to the date of this Agreement, including
those that were contained or could have been contained in the Lawsuit
filed herein or associated with the writing and publication of the Third
Edition of the book Doing Ethics in Journalism ("the handbook"). Furthermore,
Defendants, on behalf of themselves, their heirs, personal and legal
representatives, successors, assigns, and anyone claiming through them,
hereby release, discharge and agree to hold harmless Plaintiff, his
agents, assigns, employees, directors, successors, servants, heirs,
and affiliated companies, for any and all existing or future claims,
demands, costs, expenses, actions, and causes of action, both at law
and in equity, stemming from or arising out of any actions of or any
publication made by Plaintiff up to the date of this Agreement, including
those that were contained or could have been contained in the Lawsuit
filed herein or associated with the writing and publication of the handbook.
2. FILING OF NOTICE
OF DISMISSAL: Plaintiff agrees to dismiss the Lawsuit with prejudice
as to all Defendants, with Plaintiff to bear his own fees and costs
except as provided below. Plaintiff shall file with the Court a Notice
of Dismissal with Prejudice as to all Defendants, along with any other
papers required by the Court or otherwise necessary to effectuate dismissal
with prejudice, within 15 days of the execution of this Agreement.
3. SETTLEMENT TERMS:
Defendants agree to provide the following consideration to the Plaintiff:
a. On or
before 30 calendar days following the filing of the Notice of Dismissal
with Prejudice, the Society will cause a check made payable to Bush
& Morrison, P.C., in the amount of $17,884.00, to be delivered to Donald
Shelton, counsel for Plaintiff, as reimbursement for the legal fees
and costs incurred by Plaintiff;
b. The Society
and the Authors will have published in an upcoming issue of Quill
magazine the statement that is attached hereto as Exhibit A ("the
Authors' statement");
c. The Society
will devote a page on its website, spj.org, for the publication of
the Authors' statement for 120 days, and shall provide a link from
the opening page of the Society's website to the page containing the
Authors' statement, with the font size of the link being links;
d. After the Authors'
statement has been published on the Society's website for 120 days,
the Society will remove all references to the handbook from its website;
e. Allyn & Bacon
and The Poynter Institute will provide a link from their respective
websites to the page on the Society's website containing the Authors'
statement;
f. After the Authors'
statement has been published on the Society's website for 120 days,
Allyn & Bacon and The Poynter Institute will remove all references
to the handbook from their respective websites;
g. The Society
will send the Authors' statement to all colleges and universities
known to be using the handbook, and will send the Authors' statement
to a reasonable list of colleges and universities provided by Plaintiff;
h. The Poynter
Institute, under the signature of its President James M. Naughton,
will issue a separate statement ("the Poynter statement"), attached
hereto as Exhibit B, and post it on its website for the 120-day period
that The Poynter Institute links to the Authors' statement on the
Society's website;
i. The Poynter
Institute will submit the Poynter statement for publication in an
upcoming issue of Quill magazine and will publish the Poynter statement
in the Poynter Institute newsletter (with a citation to the Authors'
statement on the Society's website);
j. The Poynter
Institute will send a notice of correction, including the Authors'
statement and the Poynter statement, to persons and institutions that
purchased the handbook from The Poynter Institute or to persons who
are believed to have received a copy of the handbook while attending
a Poynter Institute program;
k. The Society,
the Authors, and Allyn & Bacon will discontinue sales of the handbook
in its current form upon execution of this Agreement, and The Poynter
Institute will not resume any sales or distributions of the handbook
with Case Study No. 12 included; and
l. The Society,
the Authors, and Allyn & Bacon agree that any future editions or runs
of the handbook will make no mention of Plaintiff.
4. NO ADMISSION:
The Agreement shall not constitute an admission of liability by any
of the Defendants, and Defendants expressly deny any liability whatsoever
on account of the claims alleged by Plaintiff.
5. CHOICE OF LAW:
This Agreement shall be governed by the laws of the State of Texas.
6. MODIFICATION:
This Agreement shall not be modified except in writing approved by all
parties hereto.
7. ENTIRE AGREEMENT:
This Agreement represents the entire agreement between Plaintiff and
the Defendants and there are no other written or oral terms other than
what is stated here. However, this Agreement does not represent any
current or future agreements between or among the Defendants relating
to any obligations among themselves or claims they may have against
each other concerning the Lawsuit or this Agreement with Plaintiff.
8. SEVERABILITY:
If any part of this Agreement is held by any court to be illegal, void,
unenforceable or against public policy for any reason, the remainder
of this Agreement will remain in full force and effect.
9. REPRESENTATION:
The Plaintiff and Defendants were adequately represented by counsel
at all times during the underlying dispute and the negotiation of this
Agreement. Further, the parties acknowledge that each party, individually
or through counsel, participated in the drafting of this Agreement.
10. COUNTERPARTS:
This Agreement may be executed in any number of counterparts, each of
which shall be an original and all of which together shall constitute
a single instrument.
EXHIBIT
A
The authors of Doing
Ethics in Journalism, Jay Black, Bob Steele and Ralph Barney, regret
that a case study in the Third Edition of the Society of Professional
Journalists ethics handbook contains an inaccurate story based in part
on facts that do not exist. They acknowledge that the handbook mischaracterizes
the actions of Mike Snyder, a news anchor at KXAS-TV (NBC 5) in Dallas,
Texas, one of the subjects of the case study, and regret the harm it
has caused him.
The chapter on Conflicts
of Interest, Case Study No. 12, discussed several incidents in which
journalists were publicly criticized or reprimanded by their employers
for supporting politicians. Among those cited was Mr. Snyder. Mr. Snyder
was disciplined by his television station because of his involvement
at a Republican Women's function in August 1994, and he apologized at
the time for presenting the perception of partisanship and a lapse of
good judgment.
However, even given
Mr. Snyder's immediate acknowledgment of his actions, the case study
does not accurately reflect the true events. The case study misstates
the event in the following ways:
- The case study
states that Mr. Snyder "acted as master of ceremonies during rallies
for Bush at several campaign stops" and "often introduced Bush as
'the next Governor of Texas.'" The case study further stated that
Mr. Snyder was a "volunteer" for the Bush campaign. The authors
now acknowledge that these statements are not correct. There is
no evidence to show that Mr. Snyder acted as master of ceremonies
for Bush, participated in any rally for Bush, worked as a volunteer
for the Bush campaign, or introduced Bush. Rather, Mr. Snyder accepted
an invitation from a friend to emcee a local Republican Women's
picnic, where his official comments were limited to thanking the
organizers of the event and introducing House Majority Leader Dick
Armey. After the event, Mr. Snyder, on his way to the parking lot,
helped stop a small child running away from his mother straight
toward Bush's security detail, and comforted the woman by saying,
"He just wanted to get close to the next governor." The authors
acknowledge that Mr. Snyder's comment was not meant as an endorsement
of Mr. Bush.
- The case study,
relying on an initial newspaper account, also reported that KXAS-TV
suspended Mr. Snyder for two weeks with pay. That statement is untrue.
Mr. Snyder, in fact, was suspended without pay and benefits.
- More importantly,
the case study states, "In interviews, Snyder said since he's an
anchor who doesn't actively report on campaign issues, he should
be allowed to do as he pleases during his time off. Snyder also
said the Bush campaign never paid him for his work. He was a volunteer."
The case study does not specify the interviews from which these
paraphrased quotes were drawn. No such interviews exist, and the
paraphrased quotes were never spoken by Mr. Snyder. The researcher
for this case study, Rebecca Tallent, inaccurately listed a summary
of comments made by individuals responding to a Fort Worth Star
Telegram reader poll published September 1, 1994, and mistakenly
attributed those comments to Mr. Snyder. The poll showed that the
majority of readers believed Mr. Snyder's suspension was not justified.
The authors understand
that Mr. Snyder actively covers political news, and has done so for
the duration of his 29-year reporting career. The authors further understand
that Mr. Snyder believes he represents his television station at all
times, and that he measures his actions and words accordingly. The researcher
was not able to reach Mr. Snyder to interview him before publication
of the book.
The authors acknowledge
that the research for this case study was incomplete and inaccurate.
After Mr. Snyder called to the authors' attention the errors in the
case study in April of 1999, the authors apologized to Mr. Snyder for
the mistakes and the absence of an interview with him prior to publication.
The Society of Professional
Journalists and the authors regret the significant factual errors that
have injured Mr. Snyder's reputation and caused him public embarrassment.
They apologize to Mr. Snyder and his family.
Jay Black
Bob Steele
Ralph Barney
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