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Tax issue for adjunct J-profs

NOTE: This is not tax advice.

If this applies to you, you should really find a tax expert to explain all the implications to you.

A message was making its way around the DC SPJ Freelance group. It is an interesting issue for many journalists who are supplementing their income by teaching part time.

As tax time nears and I know some of you teach courses as adjuncts, I thought you might like to know that the IRS and Tax Court have determined that an adjunct professor was an employee, not an independent contractor, for purposes of his work for a college/university. This decision might or might not apply to your situation if you teach a course.

In the case the court decided, the school dictated the contents of the syllabus and the text to be used in the class, but I don't think that was the determining factor. I think the fact that the school dictated and the time and place of the class and handled all the details of registration, as well as providing online resources for teaching the class, was more important. However, your accountant may have a different take on it so be sure to ask him/her about this decision when you turn in your records.

 

Getting a local angle on an international issue

The Economist Intelligence Unit just released its list of most expensive cities in the world. (And, no, Washington, DC is not even among the top 10.)

But the list -- along with some other goodies like the Big Mac Index -- provides some interesting data for comparison-type articles.

Big Mac Index and other comparisons

NPR Online Map: Good use of data to explain a story

National Public Radio has a series of reports on how the auto industry will get to the recently annouced goal of 55 mpg by 2025.

As part of the report on sales of hybrid and electric cars, the NPR team took electric car sales data and compared that information to sales of all cars in markets across the country. They then turned that info into an interactive map.

Map: Hybrid And Electric Sales Across The Country

More news organizations are using mash-ups and interactive maps/charts to help tell stories. 

BTW: In the DC area, hybrids and electric cars account for 4.2 percent of all car sales.

Good writing is not just for journalists

I don't how many times non-journalism students in my classes complained that using the rules of writing for journalists is unfair and not necessary for them.

My basic response is that writing is meant to communicate. And one cannot communicate well unless one is concise and precise.

To me "concise and precise" means stripping away the passive voice structure, eliminated adverbs and writing in short declarative sentences. This has nothing to do with only journalism but has everything to do with good writing. 

And now the U.S. government -- that bastion of the run-on sentence, the passive voice and the obscure wording -- has decided to join the ranks of the good writing crowd thanks to the new Plain Writing Act.

Say what you mean: Government pushing plain English For example: Read more »

Author Name: 
DanKubiske
Author Email: 
[email protected]

May 1, 1941: Opening of Citizen Kane

Always loved this movie.

Click here to see a YouTube clip of "How to run a newspaper."

And I trust that by now everyone knows that the reason we never see the faces of newsreel reporters tracking down Rosebud is because journalists are always supposed to be in the background. Faceless.

Author Name: 
DanKubiske
Author Email: 
[email protected]