I’m become a journalism whore...

I don’t know how else to put it. I've picked up some editing work over here and my ethics teacher at Northwestern would be horrified at what I'm doing. I'm sorry, Joe Mathewson. Please don't disown me.

CASE 1: English editor for Vietnam Golf Magazine.

At editorial meetings where we discuss what articles to run, we also mention calling any companies these articles mention and asking them to place an ad in the magazine. I'm surprised the ad department doesn't come to the meetings.

Also, I just got an article from one of their reporters that clearly plagiarizes a story from The Star newspaper in Malaysia. I'm talking lifting whole phrases here. I mentioned this to my boss, but in all likelihood this practice is well and fine and my job will be to rearrange the story so that it's not so obviously copied.

CASE 2: Freelance editor for the Foreign Language Publishing House.

From the memoir of Senior Lieutenant General Nguyên Huu An of the North Vietnamese army:

"Viewing the battlefield from the end of 1964 to the beginning of 1965 over South Viet Nam as a whole, one can observe that the liberation army was in a strong, overwhelming, victorious and growing position, while the puppet army was overwhelmed, falling into disfavour, and their complete failure was inevitable."

And:

"The U.S. imperialists suffered heavy failures not only on the battlefield but also in the political arena. The U.S. troops sent to South Viet Nam revealed themselves to be aggressors, and thus hurt the national sentiment, self-respect and pride of our people."

CASE 3: Temporary Sub-editor for Vietnam Investment Review.

I asked another editor why the articles often have two names under the byline, the second one in parenthesis. He said the name in parenthesis is the actual reporter, and the first name is a fake name, listed to give the impression the paper has more reporters than it actually does. I stifled the urge to ask if we should include fake datelines, too.

I also edited a press release as an article. The reporter had literally cut and paste a press release from Motorola about their new General Director in Vietnam, then called the guy and inserted his quotes. That's it. The best I could do was make it not-so-press-releasey, so I rearranged it and cut out phrases like, "Motorola has been instrumental in shaping the telecommunications landscape of Vietnam" and "He is taking charge of an outstanding local team."

If you’re ever in Hanoi, you can find me on the corner of Phô Huê and Hai Bà Trung carrying this sign: "Will Edit Your Propaganda for Food." I’ll be the one in high heels, a short skirt, and waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much makeup.