Placing Blame in the Aftermath of the James Frey Scandal
In September 2005, Oprah Winfrey added James Frey’s memoir, “A Million Little Pieces” to her book club list. It immediately soared to the top of the best seller charts. Then, in January of 2006, TheSmokingGun.com announced that they could not find a mug shot for the time that Frey claimed, in his memoir, he had spent in prison. They had searched for his mug shot so they could add it to their collection of celebrity mug shots, and, when they could not find it, they started to question the validity of his so-called nonfiction novel. The creators of that website then began to investigate parts of Frey’s memoir, and ran, on their website, an article titled “A Million Little Lies: Exposing James Frey’s Fiction Addiction.”
Their accusations evolved into a national media controversy. There were two major concerns revolving around Frey’s book: are memoirs required to be completely factual, and, if so, who was responsible for allowing these falsities to reach the public as truths? Some argued that the book’s publisher, Doubleday, was to blame. Some placed the blame on Frey. Others claimed that his editor should have checked the factuality of the memoir.
The assertions that Frey’s editors were in some way responsible calls into question the duties of an editor. According to the Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2006-07 Edition, an editor has many responsibilities that are exclusive to both their field and job description. In general, editors select the works of writing that appear in their publication. They then edit the works they select. They edit for several different things, including “accuracy, content, grammar, and style” (Bureau).
However, the responsibilities of an editor “vary with the employer and type and level of editorial position held.” While news editors are always responsible for fact-checking, book editors are usually only responsible for “[reviewing] proposals for books and [deciding] whether to buy the publication rights from the author” (Bureau). If book editors are not responsible for fact-checking, then it cannot be said that Frey’s editors were responsible for representing his book as nonfiction. However, in the publishing world, the debate continued over who was responsible, and Frey’s editors were often the subjects who received the blame.
Kathleen Walsh Spencer, of Plastic Surgical Nursing, used the aftermath of the Frey controversy to review the editorial process used by her journal. After their editor receives a writer’s manuscript, it is sent to three reviewing editors who are experts on the subject matter. Because these reviewing editors know the subject matter, they can check the content to ensure that “the content is correct, is complete and accurate, and is of interest to [their] readers.” She asserts that, while it is considered “ethical” for writers to avoid both plagiarism and fabrication, it is ultimately an editor’s responsibility to publish only works of writing that are “valid, accurate, significant, and timely” (Spencer 1-2).
Spencer believes that checking a manuscript for its accuracy is just as important as making sure that a medical patient receives the correct dosage of medication. An editor is responsible for ensuring that “the lines between fact and opinion are clear, even when they coincide in the same piece of writing” (Spencer 1-2).
Samuel G. Freedman, in his Columbian Journalism Review article, “The Predictable Scandal,” questions the Frey controversy by discussing the opposing responsibilities of newspaper and book editors. When a newspaper editor makes a mistake in fact checking and allows an invalid article to appear in their publication, it is a negative reflection on the entire newspaper. However, book editors are rarely reprimanded for such “editorial lapses.” In fact, Freedman believes that Frey’s editor will probably receive a bonus because the book was such a success (Freedman 52).
Publishing companies, according to Freedman, do not require their editors to do fact-checking. They generally only perform copy-editing, which simply “[makes] the text conform to the house’s standard style.” In fact, book editors and publishing companies make efforts to assume no responsibility for any legal action taken on their published works. They leave this responsibility to the authors, or “contractors,” who reflect the company only as equally as “the janitorial contractor who vacuums the halls overnight” (Freedman 52).
Rem Rieder, of the American Journalism Review, has a different perspective on who holds (or doesn’t hold) the responsibility for seeking the truth in works of writing. He published a piece titled “Falling to ‘Pieces'” shortly after the James Frey scandal was announced to the public. Rieder compares the Frey controversy with the actions taken by the New York Times in 2005 against their reporter, Jayson Blair. Blair, like Frey, was discovered to have fabricated pieces of his stories. However, where Blair was fired from his position, Doubleday simply decided to “add an author’s note to future editions explaining the content of the book” (Rieder 6).
Doubleday’s response to Frey’s fabricated memoir proves, in Rieder’s opinion, that “the book business plays by different rules” than newspapers. Shocked by Doubleday’s lack of concern with the allegations of incorporating fictional stories into a nonfiction memoir, Rieder questions the discerning nature of all of American society. He makes no assertions that it is an editor’s responsibility to check facts in creative nonfiction pieces; rather, he claims that the “lack of remorse and outrage” by so many connected parties “is a stunning contempt for the importance of the truth” (Rieder 6). Though the truth about Frey’s fabricated memoir was exposed, it remained a best seller.
Members of the publishing world were quick to place blame in the aftermath of the Frey controversy. However, Rem Rieder may have been of the best opinion when he blamed society for allowing Frey’s lies to go unpunished. People continue to purchase his book. We cannot expect authors, editors, or publishers to change unless we, as a society, demand honesty. If people refuse to purchase a book of lies, then authors will quit writing them, and editors and publishers will quit making them available to the public.
Works Cited:
Bureau of Labor Statistics. “Writers and Editors.” Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2006-07 Edition. 20 Dec. 2005. U.S. Department of Labor. Indiana Univ. SE. Lib., New Albany. 30 Apr. 2006 .
Freedman, Samuel G. “The Predictable Scandal.” Columbian Journalism Review Mar/Apr. 2006: 50-53. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Indiana Univ. SE. Lib., New Albany. 30 Apr. 2006 .
Rieder, Rem. “Falling to ‘Pieces.'” American Journalism Review 2006: 6. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Indiana Univ. SE. Lib., New Albany. 30 Apr. 2006 .
Spencer, Kathleen Walsh. “Maintaining Editorial Quality of PSN Journal.” Plastic Surgical Nursing 26.1 (2006): 1-2. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Indiana Univ. SE. Lib., New Albany. 30 Apr. 2006 .
