Caught in a tangle of thorny issues

The American Society of Business Magazine Editors, has come out with a study that says their members are bedevilled by ethical issues and their publishers don't always back them up. (ASBPE is a trade association for editors and writers who work on business, trade, association, and professional print magazines and newsletters and their associated Internet publications. It has more than 700 members and chapters in 14 cities nationwide.)

A new survey released Tuesday shows that more than 90 percent of their members believe B-to-B publications are in need of guidelines that address ethical issues. Another B-to-B publishing group, American Business Media, recently released a revised Editorial Code of Ethics principally concerned with "church and state" separation. But other issues are quite important, including plagiarism, fabrications and accepting payments for placement of articles.

The survey was sent to 360 business-to-business magazines with ASBPE members on staff. Responses came from 157 members, a 43.6 percent response rate to a 39-question online survey.

The association already publishes a Code of Preferred Editorial Practices that can be downloaded from the website.