In your penniless Monday media column: TONY freelancers say they're being stiffed, NPR is afraid of the public's emails, The Daily may have to fight for its name, and Whoopi vs. O'Reilly, round two.

  • After we heard last week that Time Out New York has been slow paying its freelancers recently, we heard from more TONY freelancers who told us the same story: an illustrator who has not been paid for her last five jobs says "They have always been slow but I am simply not being paid for the work anymore;" a freelancer says it took five months to get a $50 kill fee; a photographer says that six months of shooting for TONY in 2008 put her "on the brink of financial ruin" when they didn't pay her for five months. "They are serially delinquent with contributors," says a contributor. It's problematic. We've emailed TONY's editor and we'll update with any meaningful response. If you've had problems getting paid, email me.
  • NPR is too scared to publish its staffers' email addresses, because they fear "that correspondents and hosts will be so swamped that they won't be able to answer." Uhhh yea, that's the idea, jerks! You only answer the reasonable people, and the crazies once in a while, for amusement. Or, auto-reply! It's not that you have to answer every email, it's that people feel better when they can write you directly to say "My tip is how about you ambulance chasing queers find yourself a life and quit fucking with other's lives???" as reader Mike Cooper did, to us, just yesterday. It's all about communication.
  • Latest microcoverage of The Daily, News Corp's iPad news project and the metamedia's subject of choice at the moment: Jeff Bercovici says the video capabilities will be futuristic, and that News Corp may have to go to court over 'The Daily' name; David Carr and Sam Diaz both doubt that News Corp can make a real success out of the once-daily newspaper format. Well, at least someone is willing to spend $30 million to find out!
  • Whoopi Goldberg's going to be a guest on Bill O'Reilly's show tomorrow, which should be great television if you enjoy television featuring Whoopi Goldberg being angry and possibly storming off somewhere.

[Cover photo by: Allison Michael Orenstein]