Editorial Standards: A Time for Clarity

Last week, Publishers Weekly ran an article about our new editorial standards. The article asserted that “future contracts will require authors—even those writing in non-religion categories like business—to signal their agreement with both the Nicene Creed ... and Philippians 4:8.”

This is, of course, simply not true. We have not written our editorial standards into our contracts nor do we intend to. As far as I know, it has never even been discussed as a possibility. Unfortunately, this error has been picked up by others, amplified, and made to sound silly and extreme.

For example, MediaBistro.com said that we were making theological demands on our authors. The New York Times ran a short piece on Saturday, repeating the PW error and claiming that authors who signed with us must “swear to two religious articles of faith.” Writing for The Nashville Scene, Bruce Barry, said we were being “heavy handed.”

Several Christian bloggers also weighed in. Most seemed confused. Some asked for clarification. Thankfully, a few even defended us.

Regardless, I thought rather than answer all these posts directly, I would try to clarify our position here.

Don’t Believe Everything You Hear

I hear lots of rumors. Usually, I don’t take them seriously until I hear them from more than one source.

According to the most recent rumor—which I’ve now heard twice—we are planning a layoff for June 19th. The rationale, I am told, is that InterMedia, our new capital partner, is wanting bigger profits. The only way to get these profits is to cut expenses. We are scheduled to close the transaction on June 12th, so, supposedly, this will happen the week following.

I want to assure you that this is indeed a baseless rumor. There is absolutely no truth to it.

No one speaks to InterMedia more than I do, and I have never had such a discussion with them. It has never come up. Other than the usual administrative stuff, most of our discussions have been been focused on how we can grow the business together to fulfill our mission as a Company.

If you hear this rumor, I would be grateful if you would help me short-circuit it. You can tell ’em it’s not true, and you heard it directly from me.

Don’t Believe Everything You Hear

Twice yesterday, I heard, “Management has put a new hiring freeze in place.” I was dumbfounded. Where does this stuff come from? Not from me, I can assure you.

Yes, we are trying to be very careful about adding expenses. Yes, we are scrutinizing every new position request. And, yes, we are even asking managers to justify replacement positions. But we have not put a hiring freeze into place—and we don’t plan to.

Rest assured, our company is healthier than it has ever been. If you haven’t already, take a look at our operating results through the December 31 quarter (our fiscal third quarter and our most recent reporting period). Revenues are up 8% over the prior year; profits are up 18%. This is healthy by any standard, and I want to keep it that way.