Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Redacted

I have been asked by the Mom's Choice Awards people to remove my three posts about the books I read for them. Apparently, I am forbidden by the Code of Ethics for Reviewers and Judges, specifically, number 8, to share: "Reviewer pledges not to divulge any information about participants to individuals and parties outside the awards program. All information received from participants will be deemed private, sensitive material to be treated in the strictest confidence." Perhaps I'm just a bit thick, but I did read through the rules and all before signing up, and I didn't interpret this to mean that I couldn't talk about the books. In the Code, "participant" is never defined. Furthermore, it escapes me why I would have to consider a published book, freely available at libraries and bookstores, to be "private, sensitive material". If I checked out my library's copy and read it again, could I then post my thoughts? I kind of feel like my intellectual freedom is being impeded: a book, which is readily available through traditional sources (yes, I checked Amazon), which was sent to me for free but which I do not intend to keep, and which I am not getting paid to review, does not, to me, present a conflict of interest or an invasion of privacy to post on this blog. I liked the idea of reviewing books, even if not for pay, for a non-religious group, but I find myself unable to agree with this policy, as it makes no sense to me. I'll finish my commitment for the year, but then I'll be done.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

the world is full of nit pickers. tell them what you think.

Ms. Yingling said...

This is rather weird. Maybe your posted review causes problems with the award process? No clue. I have become very wary of any group that proclaims itself to be "family friendly". Whose family? Sorry you had to redact.