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ColumnTK: NPR, Purple States and Referrals

The Absplainicist is back with answers to your (slightly) pressing questions

[Editor's Note: This is the third installment of ColumnTK, our all-purpose advice column. ColumnTK is "Dear Abby" meets Slate's "Explainer" meets The New York Times Magazine's "The Ethicist." Dear Absplainicist. Send the Absplainicist your questions at columnTK AT mediabistro DOT com.]

Dear readers,

The Absplainicist spent the weekend doing three things:

1) Endlessly dichotomizing the entire world into red state and blue state affectations (because everyone else is still doing it);

2) Trying to decide if we should refer to ourselves in third person and first person plural rather than first person singular (I/we haven't made up our/my mind(s) yet); and

3) Trying to decide which day of the week we'd like our column to run and how frequently (we haven't made up our minds on that one yet, either.)

The only definitive conclusion we reached was that the mainstream media is clearly overlooking the small but important presence of another voting and consuming demographic: purple states. To be fair, they're not so much "states," as "counties," "cities" and "three guys named Mike who gather at Joe & Marge's Diner in Dayton, Ohio." But, nonetheless.

Purple staters include unionized Christian conservatives, socially liberal Republicans and investment bankers who hate themselves. These constituencies are being seriously undercovered. Karl Rove may have proved that they don't count, but that's no excuse. More purple state coverage, we say!

But on to the business at hand...

Last week's unanswered question [from a real reader]:

I work for a public radio show that runs on a number of member stations. The station we work out of is currently in the middle of a pledge drive. Should I feel obligated to contribute to the station, seeing as how they are my public radio station? Or should I feel the opposite: contributing and taking the gifts is somehow crossing some line/somewhat incestuous?

ColumnTK readers respond:

One reader says: In 25 years of working for nonprofit orgs., I've found that staff are always expected to contribute to whatever fund-raising effort the organization is making. Sometimes this can [mean] a lot of money, such as buying tickets to the annual benefit gala. I don't see this as at all incestuous. It's helping out an organization that you presumably think is doing good things. It would be crossing the line only if the $25 you give comes back to you personally as a $25 bonus. But then, I've never heard of bonuses in nonprofit orgs.

Another reader says: I have worked for a public radio station for several years and pretty much everyone who works there (part-timers, volunteers, freelancers, and full-time salaried staff) donates to the station. If you work for someplace that has so little money, you know how much a difference even $50 makes. Even NPR, which has very strict guidelines about employee donation, does not say to not give to a member station.

The NPR Ethics Guide (which has been adopted by many public radio stations as their own ethics guides).

Hmmm... NPR. That was obviously a blue state question. In the interest of fairness, we must now run a red state question.

[From a real reader:] I am a former Manhattanite who cannot return to NYC (married and kids in a far, far away state). I have a fulltime job as a writer and editor of an online newsletter for an institution of higher ed, but I want to become a fulltime freelance writer and editor with clients locally and nationally. Are there any suggestions for finding and scoring the paying telecommuting jobs without falling prey to the scams?

OK, so we don't actually know that the reader in question is living in a red state. But we'll assume he is, because it suits our purposes.

If we were Tony Robbins, we'd say something like, 'Remember the two Rs: referrals and references.' (Then again, if we were Tony Robbins, we'd be syndicating this column to 400 newspapers, running Absplainicist seminars and jetting between our multiple residences in resort locales.)

If you're being offered telecommuting jobs that seem suspicious, first consider the manner in which you were referred to the person or company bearing freelance work. If the referring party is not a company or person with whom you've worked, ask for references. Better safe than sorry.

If you're actively looking for freelance work, now's the time to get back in touch with the people you left behind in Manhattan—assuming you want to work for New York-based publications. Chances are, you know someone who knows someone who knows someone who works in media. Even introductions via email are helpful if they increase the chance that a potential employer will pay attention to your pitch or call you with assignments. (Incidentally, the market for freelance writing from outside of Manhattan is, in the Absplainicist's experience, larger than the market for freelance editing.)

It also helps if you position your higher ed experience as specialty expertise, which makes you a more attractive candidate for education-related assignments. And if you're not interested in education-related assignments, keep in mind that it still gets you in the door to do other things, if you so choose.

And speaking of referrals...

[A question the Absplainicist was recently asked in person:] My freelancer friends keep asking me to refer them to editors I know, and I'm not sure I feel comfortable doing that. What's the best policy?

We'll consider this a purple state question.

The Absplainicist has a policy of directly referring only the people whose writing The Absplainicist has read and feels is suitable for the editor in question. However, the Absplainicist tends to think that virtually everyone is potentially suitable and makes introductions liberally—much to the chagrin of many of the Absplainicist's respective editors. This may not be the best practice for you if you wish to have your own editors return phone calls and emails.

Otherwise, the Absplainicist helpfully points the friend in the direction of the appropriate editor and gives him or her tips on targeting and refining his or her pitch, but does not make direct introductions that might misleadingly imply endorsement on the part of the Absplainicist and result in angry emails from the Absplainicist's various and long-suffering editors.

That said, there's no right or wrong policy here, and it really depends on how you decide to balance your obligations not to abuse your relationship with your editors with your obligations to your friend.

(The Absplainicist is beginning to feel that this third person thing is ridiculous and that no one should ever, ever do it.)

Please send all questions to ColumnTK AT mediabistro DOT com.