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Thursday, December 20, 2007

Why my article isn't getting published on EzineArticles.com

The other day, I promised to publish my personal essay on EzineArticles.com (in addition to Associated Content), and to provide the link.

Unfortunately, EzineArticles.com refused to published the article, claiming it's libelous. I assume they mean libelous against Mars candy, but I can't really see why they think it's libelous.

I've blogged about the definition of libel before, but to sum up here, libel is written material that is falsely defamatory. That means that if you can prove that what you wrote is TRUE, it's not libel. Another defense is if the material is clearly written as your opinion.

I think EzineArticles.com is complaining about my opening sentence, which reads:

The other day I received an email from PETA: They have discovered that the Mars candy company is testing on animals, and are using their usual brilliant marketing approach to make sure everyone else knows it, too.

Personally, I don't think that can be considered libelous, as I'm simply stating what the email from PETA says, which is easy enough to prove.

The only other mention of Mars is when I mentioned emailing the company, daring them to watch PETA's video on animal testing.

EzineArticles.com gave me the choice of revising the articles so that they could publish it, but I opted not to, for two reasons:

1) I don't feel it's libelous, and

2) The parts they presumably want me to change are the point for writing the entire essay, and I think by changing them I would risk compromising the essay's message.

Sadly, what this means is that for right now, Associated Content is the only website running my essay. I'm sorry that I wasn't able to keep my promise, but I intend to keep trying to publish the essay elsewhere — I'll let you know if anything comes of it!

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