This is a list of my main sources of
income, and of any other work-related benefits, as of 1 October 2011.
I will update this as and when any major changes occur.
My main sources of income are from
writing for Computerworld UK, The H Open and Techdirt. In the past I
have occasionally written for other titles, but not recently, and
given my many commitments I think that is unlikely to change.
I also get paid to give talks, mostly
on free software, intellectual monopolies and digital rights.
I occasionally accept paid-for trips
to attend conferences related to my work; I aim to declare that fact
in any writing that comes out of such visits. In the past (ten to
twenty years ago) I accepted these routinely, as did all journalists.
For the record, the company that invited me most frequently back
then was probably Microsoft....
I am not, and never have been, a
consultant for any company.
As for unpaid positions, I'm on
the Open
Knowledge Foundation Advisory Board, and also on the Advisory
Committee
of the Climate Code Foundation.
I do not own (and have never owned)
any shares except those that might be hidden away in financial
instruments I may have or have had: I have never tried to find out if
there are any, or what they might be. Similarly, I do not have, and
have never had, investments in any company.
I no longer accept freebies in the
form of review software/hardware (though I did a couple of decades
ago when this was standard practice.) I buy all my own computers and
smartphones at full price (luckily, the software comes free...)
I very occasionally receive free
review copies of books on areas I'm interested in, but I'm trying to
discourage this since I never have time to write the reviews (er,
sorry about that.)
Hi Glyn,
ReplyDeleteThanks for this. It shows the almost monastic discipline required of any journalist who desires to be unquestionably independent.
It also by contrast shows the immense financial pressures the average tech journalist is placed under by the market.
The price of being seen to be independent is indeed high today.
@Jeremy: Thanks. Yes, you're right, it is very hard to be independent of all the pressures that financial links imply - and hard to make a living as a result.
ReplyDeleteWhat's also interesting is how things have changed over the years. In the past, everyone accepted freebies and free trips; some even accepted envelopes with foldable stuff inside them, allegedly....