If a source offers to buy you lunch, the best policy is for you to buy the meal or to go Dutch treat. If the source insists on paying, offer to buy the next lunch, set a date and follow through. If the meal is going to be expensive, take a second to question the source's motives. A cheese sandwich is one thing. A five-course meal with drinks at the Accomac Inn is another.
Receipts are necessary for reimbursement.
Employees who review or use for reference any books or records, tapes and discs that publishers and recording companies provide to the newspaper turn them in for auctioning to benefit the Christmas Emergency Fund. Items that arrive unsolicited in the mail are auctioned off periodically in our news office, and the proceeds donated to charity. Junkets, free trips and reduced rate or subsidized travel may not be accepted. Staff must consult with their supervising editor before accepting such arrangements. Again, all such trips must be approved by your editor.