The dreaded Editor's Note returns:

Editors' Note

An article in Escapes on Friday about motorcycling and another last Oct. 3 included comments on products by people who had undisclosed business ties to them. In the Friday article, about motorcyclists who wear brightly colored clothes for safety, Andy Goldfine, identified as a sales manager from Duluth, Minn., discussed the advantages of a bright lime-yellow Aerostitch jacket. A spokesman for Aerostitch says Mr. Goldfine is its sole owner.

The October article, about customized motorcycles, identified Marjorie Charney as a Boston-based marketing consultant and the owner of a modified BMW R1100S motorcycle. She says she is a market sales operations manager for BMW Motorcycles.

The writer, a freelance, acknowledges that in each case she knew of the connections but did not mention them to her editors. Had the editors been informed, the comments would have been omitted. (Go to Article)

So more freelance concerns return to The Times, a year after the Rick Bragg controversy. In this case, though, it's not clear why the paper would make special note that the writer was freelancing - since it apparently made no mention of that fact in the original articles themselves.