Does Your Employer Tell You You Can't -- Oh, Let's See -- Work as a Dog Groomer on Weekends?

Again from Lia


At the Yakima Herald-Republic, my editor in chief was in the midst of
revamping the rules for reporters side jobs, freelancing and other
activities.

Reporters were encouraged to volunteer in the community or be involved
in unpaid activities (coaching little league, tutoring kids, helping a
local church, etc) but paid activities were different.

When I arrived the only rules were you couldn't use the company's time
or resources for freelance jobs or outside jobs. Plus, you couldn't
work for competitors. Easy.

However, when the rules started to be rewritten the interim rule was
all side jobs and freelance had to be cleared through the editor in
chief to ensure that the work didn't conflict with your job as a
reporter. Our policy wasn't unique. Many newspapers the Ft. Worth
Star-Telegram and other large dailies subscribed to the policy.
This wasn't a big deal for me but some reporters took offense that
their time off the clock had to be cleared with the editor in chief.
So, given that reporters are underpaid and often want to live in
expensive urban playgrounds like San Francisco, Seattle and New York,
should reporters be able to pad their wages with outside projects if
all work is done outside of their day job?

I'd be interested to hear about the policies of other
writers/reporters in the forum to get a sense of how much flexibility
there is in these types of policies.

Here's Where Myra Sandoval Is.... Make That Was

Myra Sandoval
Assistant Editor/Social Photo Editor
PaperCity Magazine
30 Grant Avenue, Suite
300San Francisco, CA 94108
p: 415.901.1365 x 206
e: myra@papercitymag.com


But on Friday she's leaving!

A Les Shu Update

He's freelancing.

http://www.mensjournal.com/toolsToys/0606/earplugs.html

On 8/8/06, Les Shu <les.shu@gmail.com> wrote:

I'm a freelancer (for now). I even started a little website: http://www.lesshu.com

When Nice People Work for Naughty Media

Here's a fine kettle of fish from Lia Steakley up in Seattle.


Reporters occasionally have to keep their political/personal views
separate from their work, right? Remember the SF Chronicle reporter
that was allegedly fired for calling in sick to participate in the war
protest in downtown San Francisco?

But what about newspapers' actions calling into question your
credibility as a reporter and potentially marring your resume?
It's not uncommon for a scathing editorial to come back and haunt
reporters. As a city reporter my sources either got friendlier or more
tight-lipped during political races depending on which candidates were
endorsed by my newspaper's editorial board.

So consider what it's like to work at an alternative weekly that
decides to host an amateur porn film festival? The Stranger, a little
like the San Francisco Bay Guardian, is a beloved alternative weekly
in Seattle. Content wise is usually a big feature on some social
welfare problem or injustice a heaping serving of reviews of unknown
bands and indie films mixed with a few columns on city government,
restaurants and art.

However, it also hosts an amateur porn film festival in Seattle called
HUMP. I think this event started last year since the newspaper is
accepting applications for HUMP2 right now.

[Reader alert the following link might anger university administrators
and offend those with good taste] http://www.thestranger.com/hump
Now. Aside from the obvious question of "Should media, undeniable
defender of free speech, sponsor such an event?"

There are a few career questions that come to mind.

This event started last year. So if you were working at the newspaper
and heard it was going to sponsor an amateur porn film festival, would
to keep your job? (Keep in mind that reporting jobs are few and far
between in Seattle so this likely means you're leaving town to find
work)

Okay, forget quitting. You need a paycheck. But would you dare to
speak out against the event, assuming you didn't agree with it, to
editors and general members of the public? Porn is often a question of
free speech, right? Isn't that what Larry Flynt taught us? And aren't
journalists supposed to defend free speech?

Assuming you stay, and quietly keep your thoughts to yourself, what do
you tell sources and future employers when they ask about your time at
the newspaper that sponsors an amateur porn film festival?

Nelson Toriano: Ask for Him by Name

Nelson E. Toriano
Retail Advertising Coordinator
San Francisco Examiner
1224 Fairfax Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94124
415-359-2711 office
415-826-7904 fax
ntoriano@examiner.com

Can Blogging Be a Career Killer?

An ex-student who's doing very well emailed to say he/she would post to this blog if it weren't for the fact:

the blogosphere is a occupational land mine. Sources are googling me, hurried blog posts complete with typos are coming back to haunt me and I'm not sure how to handle the editorial criticism on personal posts.

Two things:

1) Do others of you feel that way, too?

2) Okay, then create a pseudonym and post away.

Oh. A third thing: If I weren't tenured, I would keep my own mouth shut.

Bill Goggins

To many of you the name Bill Goggins probably means nothing. But to me and many people, he was one of the most influential people in the magazine industry, although he never made a big fuss about it. He quietly edited Wired magazine behind the scenes, very much like the Wizard of Oz. I was a very small blip on his radar, but he made a huge impact on me. He died last Sunday at age 43.

I was an intern at Wired, my first job after graduating. To get an internship at one of the most cutting-edge and progressive publications in the world was more than I could ever dream of, but to have worked with some of the smartest and nicest people in the industry was absolute icing on the cake. Bill was the deputy editor, which means he basically did everything. Bill top-edited the entire magazine, making sure that all the copy was consistent and had a singular voice. Bill was the voice of Wired. Chances are Bill would rewrite your work, but he didn't do it because he was mean or your work sucked (well, sometimes it probably did suck). He made your work sound 100X better and smarter than what you turned in. And I'm proud to say that my clips from Wired has a bit of Bill in them. I was also scared of Bill. If he ever had to come to your desk to ask you a question, especially if it was a research/fact-checking related one, you better have the right answer for him or get it to him asap. No matter how thoroughly researched or fact checked an article was when it reaches his desk, he'd find new things. But what seemed like a nuisance at the time has helped shaped me into the researcher that I am today (I hope). People at Wired, Bill being one of them (along with Bob, Sonia, Jeremiah, Stuart, Jason, Evan, Rebecca, Eric, Jennifer, Jessie, and probably 20 more people I'm drawing a blank on), was the reason why I decide to venture out to NYC and continue working with magazines. To this day I have not met anyone with the skill, wit, knowledge, humor, and caliber that Bill had. All I've met are douchebags who wishes they could be what Bill was.

But Bill was a wonderful man outside of the office. I remember him having the energy to party, and he was a fun person to be around. One night, after celebrating an issue close, Bill continued the party at a park near the Castro Safeway on Market Street. It was just the men of Wired, rushing into Safeway to buy as many beers as possible before the 2 a.m. deadline kicked in. We drank beers at the park like high school boys, messing around, doing absurd stuff, and being loud until the sprinklers turned on. Bill was one of the few people who ever gave me a nickname, "Two-Fisted Shu." How forward-looking of him, as anyone who knows me today knows that that is a very appropriate nickname. It seemed like Bill knew more about me at the time than I knew myself.

Bill died of a heart failure while running in the marathon in San Francisco. He is the first fatality in the marathon's history. This is an absolute shock because Bill was so fit and healthy when I knew him. He would come into the office early just to go running before he started work (but not before downing three bottles of Odwalla), and he was a hard worker (perhaps too much). He had already left Wired before his death, but he was very much the soul of Wired.

I lost touch with Bill after moving to NYC. After a few e-mail exchanges during my first year after Wired we didn't talk much, but I had him as a reference and I always thought of him, especially when anybody talks about Wired. It's sad that I only think of him now when he's no longer with us.

I'm sure my comments are nothing compared to those from people he's worked closer with, but he did make a difference in my career and my life. I hope I become as good of a journalist as Bill was, and I hope I get to work with someone like him again.

Boing Boing
Wired News

Questions of ethics, questions of temperament

The good doctor has asked me to throw a few ethical quandaries on y'alls radar - dilemmas I encountered working for the alt-weekly in Houston for a few years. Maleshefski's set the bar fairly high, so I modestly offer these for your consumption...

1. You're doing a story on those who take jobs for Halliburton-KBR to work in Iraq. The company hosts a job fair at their facilities where they're accepting a good majority of applicants on the spot. When you show up, do you have to identify yourself as a reporter? If not, on the application they give you, what do you put down? Is it ethical to approach other applicants there for interviews?
http://www.houstonpress.com/Issues/2004-12-02/news/feature_full.html

2. You're doing a story on a Muslim version of The Onion and young Muslim comedians. You hit it off in an interview with one of the comedians and, on the way out of the interview, he asks if you want to smoke up. Do you blaze? Do you include that in the story? (Knowing that, in all likelihood, the kid didn't realize that you, in the reporter and not "new friend" role, might consider including a detail like that.)
http://www.houstonpress.com/Issues/2004-04-15/news/feature_full.html

3. You're doing an investigative piece on a woman who ran a wolf sanctuary and all the wolves died due to incompetence. You know the evidence in the piece is going to hammer her pretty hard (after the story runs, you get an email from her that contains, among other things, the phrase "ruined my life"). During an interview at her home, you realize she is keeping two wolves as pets, which is against city codes. Later, before the story runs, she begs you not to include that detail as they are her "family" apparently and they'll be impounded. There's plenty of other damning material - do you run the wolves at home bit?
http://www.houstonpress.com/Issues/2004-04-01/news/feature_full.html

4. It's Super Bowl week. Your paper has sold the front page as an advertisement to Budweiser. Not just any advertisement, but an ad that's made to look like the real front page template of your paper - sort of teasing stories/hype about Budweiser inside. It will wrap around the real cover of the paper. Your best friend at the paper wants to quit because he thinks they've violated a sacred space. Is it that serious of a transgression? Is there a difference between selling the back cover and inside front cover and the front cover itself?

Hope all is well in Cali.

best,
serazio.

Have you ever just picked up your stuff and walked out of your job?

Well, that's what I did today. No two weeks, just four heavy bags on my back, full of schwag.

Why did I quit? Is it 'cause I work with twats?
http://www.gawker.com/news/boultons-bullshit/boultons-bullshit-a-mens-fitness-editors-letter-reviewed-154529.php

No, I need a change. So I'm a free agent, looking for work, either full time or freelance. Will write/dance/go-the-distance for food.

No Free Drinks. No Drinks, Period

I cherry-picked some items from the San Antonio Express-News ethics code, which I found at the ASNE website.

INDEPENDENCE

The Express-News and its staff should be free of obligations to news sources and newsmakers, avoiding even the appearance of conflict of interest. They should:
· Not allow a source to pick up your meal tab - Exceptions include a lunch meeting in which you regularly pick up the other person's tab or a routine arrangement to share the bill.
· Avoid free food. If we attend events where meals are served, we should make every effort to pay for our own meals.
· Not use free tickets or passes for events open to the public for an admission fee for personal pleasure or that of family and friends. (The exception are ones that come from Human Resources or Marketing with prior approval from newsroom management.)
· Not drink alcohol at an event that you are covering unless you are a food/wine writer, and only in moderation.
· Not invest in companies or mutual funds that you cover or are likely to cover as a reporter, columnist or photographer. Editors should not let their stock or fund holdings influence news judgments.
· Not promote events in the paper you are a part of. As a general rule, if you are part of an event (emcee, organizer), you shouldn't write about it.
· Know membership in professional journalism groups is approved, as is serving on the boards with supervisor approval. Clear membership in groups that could create conflicts for the E-N, or leadership roles in any group, with your immediate supervisor. This provision does not apply to your spouse unless the activity could be construed as your activity as a couple, i.e. a yard sign.
· Not make contributions to or work for political parties or have direct involvement with political issues. Not participate as an activist in public rallies, marches or demonstrations.
· Not take freelance assignments or appear in other media without first consulting your immediate supervisor. Participation in chat rooms and as a blogger also must be cleared by your supervisor if you identify yourself in any way as an Express-News employee. Do not do freelance work on company time or with company assets.

I am somewhat startled by number four, though it makes sense. Anyway, here is my own personal bottom line on taking gifts, freebies and perks.

1) Follow the rules of whoever employs you. Otherwise, you might get scolded. You might get fired. But think of the flip side of this, i.e., a situation not where you want to take more than the rules allow but where you want to take less. So fine a feeling might put you in the position of behaving insubordinately if you thought your personal ethics required you to turn down something your employer wants you to take so that you can write a story about it.

1a) Whoa, you say. In what instance might your personal value system be more stringent than that of your employer? That sounds ... unlikely. Right? I can imagine it happening if, as I do, you conclude that certain gifts actually do cause warm and fuzzy thoughts to arise toward the person, place or thing that gives the gift. I am of the opinion that you always have to compensate for the natural feelings of good will that intrude when you accept a freebie other than the trivial and/or the abhorrent. That doesn't mean I haven't accepted small gifts of food and drink and and once a very nice ashtray from the manager of a porn star. I'm saying I don't think most of us are as bulletproof when it comes to blandishment as we think we are. And -- let's get subtle -- what if you think that accepting a small something might cause a source to think they had put you near, if not actually in, their pocket and thus accepting the gift was a way of putting them off their guard and making them more likely to open up and trust you? Now we are in a very different ethical frame, that of practicing some small deceits in an interview to draw out information.

The class is writing a paper on that very theme. So more later.