As I note on Regret the Error today, the New York Times has created a questionnaire that it now requires all freelancers to complete before they can work for the paper. In my Regret post, I said I would fill out the questionnaire (I've never written for the Times), and also include a listing of my professional disclosures a la Jeff Jarvis' page here. This page will be constantly updated and is meant to offer a level of transparency to my work and personal/professional affiliations. My disclosures are below, and the completed Times questionnaire follows them.
Disclosures (last updated July 26, 2006):
Companies I have done writing or consulting work for:
Radialpoint (formerly Zero-Knowledge Systems). I spent three years working full time in this company's communications department between 1999 and 2002. Since then I continued to do contract work, though I am not currently working with the company.
Mozilla Corporation
GoSecure
MegaBloks
WanderPort
Glutino
FundScrip
Got
Blue Sponge
BBCanada.com
Gearwerx
Mad Science
Nurun (Client: Disneyland Resort Paris)
Vincelli Communications (Client: Vifan)
SiteSell.com
The Acting Project
SEG! Canada
Alogia + Logient
Organizational Affiliations
I am the president of the Quebec chapter of the Professional Writer's Association of Canada.
I am a member of the Canadian Freelance Union.
I am a member of the Board of Directors of the Concordia University Journalism Alumni Association.
I have spoken to classes at Concordia University and Vanier College.
I have volunteered at the Griffith McConnell Residence.
I do not belong to any social organizations.
Stocks
I own roughly 2,000 shares of Radialpoint, a private company.
Politics
I am not now, nor have I ever been, a member of a political party. I am not a supporter of any particular political party in Canada. I have voted for these parties in federal and provincial elections:
Liberal Party of Canada
Liberal Party of Quebec
NDP
Green Party
Responses to the New York Times Questionnaire:
1. Please list your other current employers, whether full time or part time
I am a staff writer for the NewCanadian, which is a part time contract position. I write a weekly column for Hour on a freelance basis and have done so for roughly three years. I currently work with Handel Productions on a contract/freelance basis, doing research on documentary films and developing an idea for a film based on an article I published. I am also currently on a short term writing contract with Mozilla Corproation, working on writing web content. And I am writing copy for Alogia + Logient, a web development company.
Apart from these clients, I also regularly contribute to Toro magazine and the National Review of Medicine, though this is purely on a freelance basis. I write for several other publications, though on a less frequent basis. See "About Craig" on the left hand column of this site for a listing of publications.
2. For what other employers have you worked in the last three years?
Please refer to the client list above for a full listing of contract/full time employers (excluding freelance publication writing) over the last seven years.
3.
What sort of volunteer work do you do regularly, if any, and for whom?
(Please include any public relations, advocacy or advisory board
involvement.)
I volunteer for the organizations listed above and have also volunteered at the Griffith McConnell Residence, an elder care facility where my girlfriend works.
4. Do you do any work paid or unpaid in politics or government? Have you done any lobbying of governmental bodies?
No.
5.
Do you have any financial investments or financial ties that may limit
your ability to cover specific topics free of conflict, and if so, what
are the topics?
My shares and work experience with Radialpoint preclude me form writing anything about the company or Internet security/privacy.
6. Although we don’t regulate the activities
of spouses, partners or immediate family members of our contributors,
do any of their professional or personal involvements or any of their
financial investments or ties make certain topics inappropriate for
you, and if so, what are the topics?
As noted before, my girlfriend works at an elder care facility, making it inappropriate for me to write about this facility.
7. Have you accepted any
free trips, junkets or press trips in the last two years? Have you
accepted any substantial free merchandise or discounts from people we
might cover?
No.
8. Has anything you’ve written later resulted in
a published editor’s note or retraction for deliberate falsehood or
plagiarism or become the subject of a lawsuit involving allegations of
deliberate falsehood? (If yes, please include details about the
publication and your role in the article or story. If a lawsuit, please
describe the disposition of the case.)
No. My work has never resulted in an editor's note.