New Star freelance contracts raising eyebrows
The Toronto Star has been issuing new agreements to its freelancers that contain broader language than previous ones. According to some freelancers we heard from, there was less pressure to sign and return the contracts when they were first distributed, but after questions were raised about its wording, a hard deadline was set. There are […]
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 […]
CWG’s Derek Finkle on Nino Ricci’s letter to the Globe
We asked Derek Finkle, founder of the Canadian Writers Group, which represents independent writers, about typical compensation for freelance travel writing and whether it’s common for dailies to leave an invoice unpaid for six months, as the Globe did in Ricci’s case.
Nino Ricci gives the Globe a thrashing
In an open letter to the Globe posted on his own site, author Nino Ricci feigns concern for the paper’s financial situation while castigating them for failing to pay him for a travel story published six months ago.
Freelance court interpreters take action (updated)
In most cases, if a journalist makes an error, the consequences are little more than embarrassment and a correction. But court interpreters go to work knowing that their mistakes could send someone an innocent person to jail or set a guilty defendent free. It’s a high-pressure role, and a group of freelance court interpreters in […]
Newspaper Guild-CWA advocating on behalf of unpaid HuffPo writers
Poynter.org has posted a press release from the Newspaper Guild-CWA in which it asks writers who contribute work to the Huffington Post for free to cease doing so until the company agrees to start compensating them. The Guild’s request follows the Huffington’s Post‘s recent $350 million buyout by AOL, and it’s not the first call […]
Update: Editors respond to VIDA stats on female writers
Recent stats from VIDA that showed how few women are getting their work published in literary magazines and journals had us and many others asking questions but coming up with few answers. Now, we hear from the people who decide what makes it into those publications. Elissa Strauss at The Sisterhood blog sent letters to […]
