[stylist] censorship

[helene ryles]

I used to write letters for the RNIB magazine new beacon. I don't mind
cutting and pasting a word or two to make things more readable.
However I do mind when what I write gets changed like it did when I
wrote something about the Opticon. I was writing that people still use
it and find it useful. Only the RNIB quoted me as saying it was
popular. I know it was never that, but things don't have to be popular
to be useful. It had a very small market which is why it died out, but
the market was there. Their just wasn't many of us. So where RNIB got
the word Popular from I'll never know.

Editing to smooth things is fine by me, but editing to radically
change the meaning. ie in changing the word useful to popular which
made me sound rediculous.

Helene

On 07/05/2009, Judith Bron <jbron at optonline.net> wrote:
> How old is this lady?  Perhaps you can tell her (or is it him?) that you
> edit a magazine for blind folks.  As an editor you learned long ago that if
> someone is going to donate their time to volunteer to write an article you
> have to operate under strict guidelines so that your authors don't find
> themselves wasting their time.  Tell her (him?) that you afford this
> courtesy to the people who submit articles to your magazine.  Why should you
> be treated by someone else in a way that is unacceptable to you?
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <LoriStay at aol.com>
> To: <stylist at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, May 06, 2009 8:21 PM
> Subject: [stylist] censorship
>
>
>>I may have mentioned that I edit a magazine called Musings of Maturity.
>> Last year, the Town   commissioner for senior affairs decided to edit my
>> editing, and instead of consulting me, cut and pasted (literally!) little
>> squares of corrections, editing out names of products, and words she
>> considered
>> obscene, such as crap.   (I'd already substituted that for the more
>> pungent
>> word).   Can't recall what she put.   Probably something that didn't
>> belong
>> there.   She also decided to change the word "muse" to "inspiration," thus
>> changing the meaning of the article entirely.
>>
>> This year, I've asked for guidelines, and suggested that I'd be glad to
>> make corrections so the publication doesn't look unprofessional with messy
>>
>> cuts
>> and pastes.   I was told, "But we don't do email."
>>
>> Strange.   Doesn't the U.S. Postal Service still function?   I'll be glad
>> to use it if the commissioner will.
>> Or I could hand carry the corrections.   It's not as though town hall is
>> that far away.
>>
>> I'm one step away from refusing to edit this magazine.   It's not a paid
>> position.   Also, the writers who contribute to the magazine are quite
>> angry.
>> Last year was the first time our work was censored like this.   We were
>> even told we couldn't rewrite a song such as "You're the top" if we said
>> Obama
>> was the top.   (For heaven's sake, he's the President!   Can't we surmount
>> politics?   Apparently not.)   The song writer gave me three possible
>> verses
>> to replace, and all had product names, another no no.
>>
>> Has anyone else run into this?   Yes, I have, by the way, since on
>> occasion
>> Slate & Style has had to change a word or two.   but nothing like this!
>> Lori
>>
>>
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>
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