White lies can sometimes get you in trouble … or on Oprah Winfrey’s black list.

In recent weeks, there has been a storm of controversy around James Frey’s discredited memoir “A Million Little Pieces” after word came out Frey had fabricated significant portions of the book. Although memoirs are not necessarily expected to be the verbatim truth, Frey made the mistake of not acknowledging some things might not have happened as he wrote them.

“Frey’s biggest ‘mistake’ was selling millions of copies of his book and duping Oprah Winfrey,” English instructor Joe Bonomo said. “If his book had sold very little, no one would’ve noticed. Beyond that, if Frey erred it was in failing to disclose to his readers that he embellished, exaggerated and otherwise distorted past events in order to give shapeliness to them, a satisfying novelistic feel.”

So-called “little white lies” can put journalists and other writers on the public’s bad side.

“[There are] no little white lies in journalism,” said associate professor of communication Brian Thornton. “Telling a little truth is like being a little pregnant. Either you tell the truth completely or you don’t. There is no in between, just as there is no in between in pregnancy.”

According to Random House Publishing’s Web site, in a special statement made by the publisher, no more copies of Frey’s book will be printed until an author’s note has been added acknowledging the book’s discrepancies.

Frey certainly is not the first person to publish fiction as fact and he probably won’t be the last, either. Credibility is a huge issue not just for reporters and writers, but also for students, who bear responsibility for their work.

“As writers, students have to decide for themselves where they draw the line,” Bonomo said. “No one’s memory is absolute and one is always recreating the past when retelling the past. A student, whether writing or reading, has to decide individually what value he puts on emotional truth if it’s at the expense, or rubs against, literal truth.”