The Media Coverage of the Huffington Post Controversy
For the last several weeks, AICA-USA has been following and reporting the Huffington Post strike by writers affiliated with ArtScene and Visual Art Source, which recently have been officially supported by The Newspaper Guild. As a professional organization of art critics AICA-USA fully supports the efforts of our colleagues (many of them AICA members) to enter into a negotiation with Huffington Post/AOL in order to establish a proper professional relationship, which includes fair pay.
Marek Bartelik
President, AICA-USA
Posted below are letters from AICA member Bill Lasarow, as well as a link to an interview with Arianna Huffington recently published in The New York Times magazine.
Written by Bill Lasarow
When we were invited to become a Huffington Post blogger last year I understood that the company paid nothing. We surveyed our writers’ reaction to assess their willingness to have their material reposted there for no additional pay. Visual Art Source, ArtScene and art ltd. (http://www.visualartsource.com) form an umbrella art publishing company that is actually quite large by the standards of our very specialized field. The tens of thousands of readers and online users that we boast, however, are miniscule compared to the 26 million visitors per month that the Huffington Post currently draws.
Yet we are now going on strike. For now, at least, no more content from us will appear on the Huffington Post.
And just like the corporate titans of the American Right, it would come as no surprise if Ms. Huffington, whom I am certain has a good heart and only the best intentions, were to assume the obvious position: Who needs these people anyway? They are not even employees.
Nonetheless, we shall remain on strike until these two demands are met. First, a pay schedule must be proposed and steps initiated to implement it for all contributing writers and bloggers. Second, paid promotional material must no longer be posted alongside editorial content; a press release or exhibition catalogue essay is fundamentally different from editorial content and must be either segregated and indicated as such, or not published at all.
I am also calling upon all others now contributing free content, particularly original content to the Huffington Post to also join us in this strike.
We think it is incumbent upon the many writers and bloggers to form a negotiating partnership with Huffington/AOL in order to pursue these and other important matters so as to professionalize this relationship. It is not entirely Ms Huffington’s fault that so many talented professionals have been willing to accept the company’s terms on an “in kind” basis. Surely most do so in the hopes of achieving their own fame and fortune thanks to the great exposure that Huffington Post potentially offers. Unfortunately, such participants are only complicit in a relationship that fails the ethical smell test. And those who are already nationally known figures who will never need to be concerned about pay scales, shame on you, you should know better.
It is unethical to expect trained and qualified professionals to contribute quality content for nothing. It is unethical to cannibalize the investment of other organizations who bear the cost of compensation and other overhead without payment for the usage of their content. It is extremely unethical to not merely blur but eradicate the distinction between the independent and informed voice of news and opinion and the voice of a shill.
None of this is illegal, only unethical and oh so very hypocritical, so Ms Huffington if you insist do carry on, by all means. However we are taking this action, with the full knowledge of our contributing writers and editors, in the belief that your better angels will enable you to do the right thing. We stand ready to provide whatever helpful input we can.
- Bill Lasarow
Publisher and Co-Editor
UPDATE: VAS/ArtScene and the Huffington Post
Dust-Up Receiving International Attention
Visual Art Source / info@visualartsource.com
ArtScene / artscene@artsenecal.com
Last week we shared with all of you our declaration of a strike against the Huffington Post by our collected writers and editors. Many of you responded with encouragement, which we are grateful for; a few of you with criticism, the barbs of which we are happy to hear and reflect on.
Here's a brief update on this past week. We've provoked way more reaction than I anticipated, including a good deal of media coverage. The links below are actually very selective; only stories that provide real journalistic perspectives, or considered commentary.
The LA Times responded with a phone interview and article posting within two hours of the original posting. By Thursday Ms. Huffington was asked about this action at the Paid Content conference in New York and gave a hostile and dismissive response (see the fifth article link below). Not to go into the "whys" of it, but I could hardly have scripted a better response outside of her saying the opposite, that she would love to discuss the matter with us. That is the response we would really like to elicit.
As matters stand, however, Ms. Huffington has declared that while she publicly espouses great progressive causes, the very principles that she articulates so well should not apply to her. We beg to differ.
The Guardian of London invited me to run an Op-ed piece (see the first article link; paid by the way) in response, an opportunity I accepted.
We've started a few new steps for the upcoming week, we'll see how they move this action along (if at all). I did not start this believing anything particularly noteworthy would come of it beyond simply distributing our statement of principle on behalf of our writers and editors. We may have an opportunity to do more.
One thing we are starting to do is gather contact information to reach out to as many current Huffington Post bloggers as possible. Please forward names and emails of anyone you know in this area; if you are a current HP contributor and/or want to join in on this, or have already, please let us know.
- Bill Lasarow
Publisher and Co-Editor
__________
Here are selected links to stories:
The Guardian of London asked me to contribute the following Op-ed: www.guardian.co.uk/comment
The L.A. Times' David Ng bylines the following story on the HuffPost strike action: www.latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster
A second LA Times piece: www.opinion.latimes.com/opinionla/
A piece by Tim Kenneally at The Wrap: www.thewrap.com
Ms. Huffington provided an initial response at a conference in NYC when asked about it there. Here is another article in The Wrap, this by Dylan Stableford-- www.thewrap.com/ #2
The Atlantic's Erik Harden wrote this reaction--www.theatlanticwire.com/business
Art for a Change is produced by LA artist and commentator Mark Vallen; a genuinely thoughtful piece that considers the broader political landscape:
www.art-for-a-change.com
- Bill Lasarow
Publisher and Co-Editor
Update: The Newspaper Guild Joins Huffington Post Strike
ArtScene and Visual Art Source writers, who suspended contribution of their art reviews and commentary and declared themselves on strike from the Huffington Post on February 26th, have been officially joined by The Newspaper Guild. This is the national organization of newspaper journalists, and its 26,000 members. This begins a writers’ coalition effort; other organizations representing the rights of writers and journalists who share common cause are being reached out to at this time.
With the entry of The Newspaper Guild the strike action enters into a new phase in which the Guild’s resources will be brought to bear in order to bring Huffington Post / AOL into negotiations to establish fair and ethical labor practices with regards to the substantial number of individuals that contribute content and value to the company.
For further information please contact Bill Lasarow, Publisher and Co-Editor of ArtScene / Visual Art Source, (213) 482-4724, artscene@artscenecal.com / billl@visualartsource.com
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The Newspaper Guild’s statement as posted at their website; the text appears below:
http://www.newsguild.org/index.php?ID=10712
The Newspaper Guild is calling on unpaid writers of the Huffington Post to withhold their work in support of a strike launched by Visual Art Source in response to the company’s unfair labor practices. In addition, we are asking that our members and all supporters of fair and equitable compensation for journalists join us in shining a light on the unprofessional and unethical practices of this company.
Just as we would ask writers to stand fast and not cross a physical picket line, we ask that they honor this electronic picket line.
The Newspaper Guild, a 26,000-member-strong national union of journalists, is committed to fair compensation for all workers, whether they are freelance bloggers or traditional employees. We are further committed to promoting quality journalism. Working for free does not benefit workers and undermines quality journalism.
In response to the Huffington Post’s refusal to compensate its thousands of writers in the wake of its $315 merger with AOL, the Newspaper Guild has requested a meeting with company officials to discuss ways the Huffington Post might demonstrate its commitment to quality journalism. Thus far, the request has been ignored.
Visual Art Source, http://visualartsource.com, an art publication, represents more than 50 writers who have said they will no longer write for the Huffington Post for free and who object to a company that depends on unpaid labor for its success.
As Cherie Turner, one of the former writers, explained, “Certainly, we all have written for free for the great exposure the Huffington Post can give us, but what’s the cost? Those of us on strike feel it undermines the value of our profession and is unethical, especially in light of great profits by those at the top. We are only asking for a fair share of what we are helping to create. We are also speaking out against real journalism being run side-by-side with advertorial.
“We feel it is unethical to expect trained and qualified professionals to contribute quality content for nothing. It is unethical to cannibalize the investment of other organizations that bear the cost of compensation and other overhead without payment for the usage of their content. It is extremely unethical to not merely blur but eradicate the distinction between the independent and informed voice of news and opinion and the voice of a shill.
The Newspaper Guild and Visual Art Source urge others to join forces and no longer contribute their labor until the following demands are met:
· A pay schedule must be proposed and steps initiated to implement it for all contributing writers and bloggers; and,
· Paid promotional material must no longer be posted alongside editorial content; a press release or exhibition catalogue essay is fundamentally different from editorial content and must be either segregated and indicated as such, or not published at all.
Four things you can do NOW, if you choose to join this effort:
· Stop providing free content to Huffington Post and let your editor know you are choosing to take this action and what your demands are if he/she would like to keep you writing for HP (see above);
- Please respond and let us know you’re on board and that we are allowed to use your name in any press materials we send out regarding this strike;
- Please pass along the names and e-mail addresses of your colleagues who contribute to the HP so that we may ask for their support;
- Send a letter to your local media op-ed section letting them know how you feel about this situation.
Thank you for your consideration in joining in these efforts. Our intent is to encourage the Huffington Post to do the right thing. We would all love to continue contributing, but only if the terms are fair and promote good, healthy journalism. This is about supporting the quality and integrity of a vehicle for progressive expression, to actually help Huffington Post succeed, but on the right terms. We call on Arianna Huffington to demonstrate her commitment to the working class she so ardently champions in her writing.
For more information see:
Facebook: "Hey Arianna, Can You Spare a Dime?" https://www.facebook.com/heyarianna?
TNG-CWA Freelance Project: http://guildfreelancers.org/gf/
TNG-CWA Free Project Coordinators:
East Coast: Lauri Lebo, laurilebo@gmail.com
West Coast: Rebecca Rosen-Lum rrosenlum@gmail.com
Update: Arianna Huffington's Next Move—NYTimes Interview
By ANDREW GOLDMAN
Published: April 1, 2011
You’ve called your father a newspaperman. What did he do?
I grew up with my father starting small newspapers in Greece. None of them survived. Maybe this has something to do with the fact that I’ve never had any desire to have Huff Post have a print component.
There’s much hand-wringing about the death of print, withThe Huffington Post often cited as a culprit. What do you suppose your father would have said about The Huffington Post?
I think he would have known perfectly well that, as I said in my five-word acceptance one of the years we got a Webby award, “I didn’t kill newspapers, darling.” It wasn’t The Huffington Post; it was Craigslist; it was new technologies.
You’ve been saying recently that The Huffington Post is not a lefty publication?
Actually I’ve been saying that for three years. The tag line that we’ve used a lot is “Beyond left and right.”
To read the rest of the interview see the NYTimes
Update: Huffington Post/ AOL Hit with Class Action by Bloggers
From the Hollywood Reporter
4/122011
The Huffington Post has been hit with a class action lawsuit by a group of bloggers who claim the massively popular site, recently acquired by AOL, mistreats those who enrich it with content.
Well-known freelance journalist Jonathan Tasini is leading the proposed class action filed today in New York federal court. The lawsuit comes in the wake of AOL's $315 million acquisition of the site last month, which set off grumblings in the writing community about whether some of that cash should trickle down as fair compensation to those who have volunteered writing during the site's enormous growth period. Amid talk of a possible strike, Tasini is now leading a group of fellow writers in a legal action that claims "mistreatment" by co-defendant and founder Arianna Huffington.
Continue reading this article here