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Must Writers Be Moral? Their Contracts May Require It

Shulevitz, Judith
http://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/04/opinion/sunday/metoo-new-yorker-conde-nast.html

Publisher:  The New York Times
Date Written:  04/01/2019
Year Published:  2019  
Resource Type:  Article

Publishers have been adding clauses to contracts that let them break relationships with writers who display behaviour that could damage their reputations. Many see this as a risky loophole open to abuse.

Abstract: 
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Excerpt:

This past year, regular contributors to Condé Nast magazines started spotting a new paragraph in their yearly contracts. It's a doozy. If, in the company’s "sole judgment," the clause states, the writer "becomes the subject of public disrepute, contempt, complaints or scandals," Condé Nast can terminate the agreement. In other words, a writer need not have done anything wrong; she need only become scandalous. In the age of the Twitter mob, that could mean simply writing or saying something that offends some group of strident tweeters.
Agents hate morality clauses because terms like "public condemnation" are vague and open to abuse, especially if a publisher is looking for an excuse to back out of its contractual obligations. When I asked writers about morality clauses, on the other hand, most of them had no idea what I was talking about. You'd be surprised at how many don't read the small print.

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