Huffington Post contributors go on strike, propose collective bargaining

[alp227]

Arianna Huffington is being cast by some unpaid Huffington Post contributors as an unethical robber baron. With Huffington awash in funds from AOL’s $315 million purchase of the Huffington Post, contributors have called a strike to demand proper compensation.

The Huffington Post, established in 2005, emerged as a leading source of aggregated news content and liberal commentary written by unpaid contributors. With the success of the site, founder Arianna Huffington rocketed to national fame, frequently appearing as a guest on cable news programs.

Bill Lasarow, Publisher and Co-Editor of Visual Art Source, announced that his organization is “now going on strike. For now, at least, no more content from us will appear on the Huffington Post.”

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2011/03/04/huffington-post-contributors-go-on-strike-propose-collective-bargaining/

Found via: http://www.drudge.com/news/141899/huffpo-contributors-go-strike

[ProgressiveProfessor]

1. Some will not be missed...

[robinlynne]

2. huffington post ill not be missed. I stopped reading it the day she sold it. used to read it every d

day.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

4. The content there is really mixed. Some I continue to follow, others I ignored or more

[alp227]

15. i agree, some authors who i respect post there, like Cenk Uygur

and Terry Krepel, and many other left-wing voices, but the rest tends to be garbage especially the psuedoscientific "health" writers.

[MineralMan]

3. Some of those unpaid writers were paid more than they

were worth. You truly get what you pay for when you employ writers.

[sabrina 1]

6. Could you name a few who were 'paid more than they were worth'?

[MineralMan]

7. Yes, I could.

Thanks for asking.

[sabrina 1]

8. But you haven't!

Some of those right-leaning DLC types wouldn't be missed, but considering who is invested in the site, I imagine they will now go on the payroll.

[MineralMan]

9. That's very observant of you.

[sabrina 1]

13. Thank you, I am nothing if not observant!

[K8-EEE]

10. Personally I think she should give all of them a bonus BUT

if they agreed to do it free just for the exposure -- then that's what they agreed to. It's kind of like a band agreeing to play for free at a restaurant and when they find out they owner made money the night they played trying to sue him.?

[lanlady]

5. oh me oh my

Who's gonna write all those celeb tittie stories?

[K8-EEE]

11. I know right? How will I know what bikini Kim Kardashian wore today?

nt

[MineralMan]

12. Oh, there are other places to find that very useful information.

At some of them, writers are paid, too.

HuffPo also did well printing stuff from people who were promoting themselves, their businesses, or their books by writing for HuffPo. The Health section is just chock-full of that sort of thing. In many cases, though, the people named as the writers really wrote nothing, but paid writers to write their material.

You may ask how I know that? Well, I've done that - written for people who used the writing as their own. It can be very lucrative. My name never appears, except on the checks I get. Works for me.

[sabrina 1]

14. That's quite a broad statement with no actual

facts to back it up. Eg, people like Robert Kennedy Jr. have written for Huffpo. Dennis Kucinich, among other excellent progressive activists and representatives.

Not everyone has an ulterior motive. Some people actually do care about this country, but from ten years of observation, those who are the most sincere about this are PROGRESSIVE Democrats.

[MineralMan]

16. I have expressed my opinion on the matter. You may look

at my signature line. I have ghost written articles for many people whose name appeared on the material I wrote. It is common practice. Huffington Post is not all politics, as you may have noticed. Many of the people who "write" articles there are selling things. From my experience, most of those do not write the material that appears under their name. I know that because I have written some of it. It is my profession to write things.

Robert Kennedy, Jr., no doubt, writes his own material. Does that demonstrate that others have done the same? I don't think so. Much of what appears on Huffington Post, especially in non-political sections of the site is pure promotional material. Surely you've noticed that. For me, that diminishes the entire site.

You may believe what you please. It's of no matter to me. You are not influential in any way, nor am I. We are just posters on Democratic Underground. It simply doesn't matter what either of us thinks. But I can guarantee you that many of the people "writing" on that site have written nothing that appears under their name. I know that to be an absolute fact. I am contractually prohibited from naming any names of people for whom I have written Others I know do the same thing. It's a job. It keeps me in groceries. These days, I have stopped doing it, and am writing marketing material and web content for small, local businesses. I will never write the other material again.

Bottom line: Huffington post is not just a site written by prominent political figures. Not by any means.

[The Liberal Ohioan]

17. They can write for my paper instead

I'm the managing editor of a new online magazine. Tell them to come write for me!
Writers are the ones who bring in the revenue. Writer-owned media is the way to go.
How much of that 3+ million did the writers get?