April 1 reading

I'm glad I got this section of The Times' ethics guidelines because I found it really interesting. I think it was very smart of the Times to regulate freelance work and other copyright sort of issues. It's something I wouldn't have thought of if I was creating my own publication but now something I'll definitely keep in mind.

What I found particularly interesting was that the Times asks reporters who maintain personal Web sites to adhere to the same ethics guidelines there that they do when they are publishing for The Times. It really shows the amount of attention the Times pays to its reputation. The company believes that any one associated with it should be of a certain ethical standard, even in their personal space. This same idea applies to the fact that Times employees are not supposed to accept freelance work at publications that are not of the same moral code as The Times.

In my own publication, I would also definitely encourage employees to pitch any outside freelance work to our own publication before looking elsewhere. (This was the general gist of pages 28-33) I think it creates a sense of community among employees that you are interested in their work and ideas and flexible in what you can offer them. On top of that, if an employee is good enough to work for the publication in some capacity, why wouldn't you want to look at other work they've done? It would seem silly to let someone else have it.