Nine soon-to-be unpaid writers leave HuffPost Quebec before it launches
We bet that most everyone who writes for the Huffington Post for free doubts whether they should. Story Board readers have heard about that straight from a former HuffPost Canada writer. At least nine writers who were to begin writing for Huffington Post Quebec after its Feb. 8 launch have considered the pros and cons […]
Why I wrote for the Huffington Post (and why I stopped)
By Emma Woolley The Huffington Post is evil, right? It makes a lot of money from content it doesn’t pay for. It exploits writers and undermines their right to earn livings. It contributes to the overall devaluation of writing and especially web writing. I knew all of this and I still wrote for the Huffington […]
New food-industry site mimics HuffPost‘s “influence as compensation” model
If it worked for the Huffington Post, why can’t it work for Food & Drink Digital? The latter publication’s public relations manager, Jeremy Vara, is sending a message to potential contributor that asks for them to share their expertise with Food & Drink Digital’s “exclusive audience.” Jim Romenesko posted the email he received from Vara […]
Huffington Post Canada on “content mills”
Well, this is something. In a post on HuffPo Canada, freelance writer Bob Beaty discusses the value of freelance content sites and asks writers to weigh in on them too. The conclusion of the article, in brief, is that while writers are severely underpaid by these sites and are dissuaded from putting any personality into […]
Survey of HuffPo bloggers finds they want to be paid
In a shocking revelation, a study of Huffington Post bloggers by researchers at UC Santa Barbara’s Carsey-Wolf Center—which included analyzing 500 press clippings about AOL’s $315-million acquisition of HuffPo and a survey of HuffPo’s most frequent contributors—found that they think they deserve to be paid for their labour, which requires their time, effort, and numerous […]
Re-evaluating HuffPo’s unpaid bloggers
On his Mixed Media blog at Forbes.com, Jeff Bercovici offers a new angle to consider in the recent lawsuit that unpaid writers have brought against the Huffington Post and AOL. Bercovici starts off by acknowledging that, in terms of ad revenue, US$105 million is too high a value for the bloggers’ work, but he builds […]
Arianna Huffington responds to lawsuit
In a post on her own site, Arianna Huffington takes time out from “aggregating adorable kitten videos” to discuss the $105 million lawsuit that Jonathan Tasini is pursuing against the Huffington Post and AOL on behalf of 9,000 unpaid HuffPo writers. Huffington’s tone is entirely dismissive: “First, let’s look at the merits of the case,” […]
A misguided tactic with its heart in the right place
Writer and trade unionist Jonathan Tasini has fought and won battles on behalf of freelance journalists in the past. But his lawsuit against Arianna Huffington and AOL, launched yesterday, seems as likely to alienate current supporters of unpaid Huffington Post bloggers as it does to get more people on their side. Tasini is asking for […]
Not just for laughs
The story of a group of comedians gigging at the Comedy Store in the ’70s is being compared to the battle for fair compensation currently being fought by unpaid Huffington Post writers. After working for free for six years, the comics — including Jay Leno and David Letterman — were tired of watching the club’s […]
Asking Arianna for change
Open letters to publications’ management are a last-ditch tactic to right wrongs and spur change—but as we’ve seen recently, they can be effective. Now, adding his voice to many others asking the Huffington Post to reconsider its approach to compensating writers, comes Bernie Lunzer, president of the Newspaper Guild-CWA, with an open letter to Arianna […]
