The questionnaire will ask about a freelancer's "affiliations, work history, financial and personal connections and any past instances when questions were raised about the accuracy or originality of their work," according to today's memo from Al Siegal and Craig Whitney, and we particularly like that last part. We're sure they'll now catch untold ne'er-do-wells and fabricators when they answer that, yes, legitimate questions have been raised about their previous work. Ah, the power of questionnaires.

Full memo is after the jump.

To the Newsroom:

Nearly three years ago, the Siegal Committee recommended that The Times learn more about its stringers and freelancers, to ensure that their ethical standards and credentials are equal to those of our regular staff. It has taken some time to develop electronic tools to put this recommendation into practice, but we are now ready to do so.

Effective on Monday, April 10, all of our freelance writers will be asked to fill out a questionnaire about their affiliations, work history, financial and personal connections and any past instances when questions were raised about the accuracy or originality of their work.

The questionnaire, which each freelancer will submit via the special Web site we have established for the new freelance assignment and payment system, will be reviewed by senior editors in the department for which the freelancer works. On the basis of the information submitted, the editors will determine what future assignments are appropriate for the stringer or freelancer.

Just as we have required signed contracts in recent years as a prerequisite for freelance work, we will now also require submission of the questionnaire. And just as we have required editors to verify that a freelancer has signed a contract before assigning work to that freelancer, we will also require editors to verify that the freelancer has been vetted. Both checks can be made using the new freelancer assignment and payment system.

This policy applies to freelance writers only, not to illustrators or photographers. In departments that are not yet using the new freelance payment system, the vetting requirement will go into effect when the new system is adopted.

Your desk administrators have been given detailed information about how the vetting system works. Please check with them for instructions.

If you have any questions about this policy, please e-mail Al Siegal, Craig Whitney or Nancy Sharkey. For technical help with the system, please e-mail James Wilkerson in News Technology.

thanks,
Al Siegal and Craig Whitney

This one department [at Conde Nast] has a weekly status meeting. Usually the attendees at this meeting are just the department head and some of the managers. However, at this one particular meeting, the entire department was invited because lunch was being ordered. A department-wide email was sent out saying, "EVERYONE, and I mean EVERYONE, is invited so COME!"

So the food arrives, an email is sent to the department AGAIN saying "COME NOW! FOOD's HERE!" Peeps arrive at the meeting and someone DECIDED that there wasn't enough food for everyone. Their solution?

Decision Maker: There's not enough food for the freelancers.
Freelancers: ............ ????!!!!

And so the freelancers don't eat.

But don't you get it, little 'lancer? At No. 2 Time Warner, they would have eaten the freelancers.

Earlier: Conde Nast: Special Friend to the Freelancer

2. Time Warner
3. BBC
4. MTV Networks
5. HBO
6. MJM Creative
7. The New York Times
6. Curious Pictures
9. McGraw Hill
10. Viacom

Noticeably absent from the list is Radar magazine, which we're sure is aiming for the top slot next year, in its third incarnation — once finishes paying off every jilted freelancer from the most recent endeavor, of course.

New Survey Shows Conde Nast Tops the List of Best Companies for Freelancers [Business Wire]

Pretty Freelance Writer/ Gossip, Nightlife, Fashion, Modeling
Reply to: gamcontrol@aol.com
Date: 2006-01-16, 1:20PM EST

An online blog community is looking for a pretty freelance writer that can contribute awesome content!

We need gossip, trend, nightlife, fashion and modeling writers. Anything to do with Pretty People! Send an example of something recent you have done along with your pictures for review.

We need some really spicy stuff!

And to think, you were blogging because it was safe to be ugly.

Craigslist

Poor freelancers, always having their balls cut off.

Hostel [IMDb]