Huffington Post was recently sold to AOL for a reported $315 million dollars. At the time I asked myself who profited. I know they don’t paid most writers for contend because they approached me twice through different venues as a potential contributor. They wanted me to work for free. Which did not sound attractive. Now Visual Art Source is calling for a strike for the similar reasons.
Somebody at Huffpo is profiting from the work of others without sharing the wealth, and it sounds like it’s Arianna Huffington. Does she care?
Huffington, speaking alongside AOL chief Tim Armstrong at PaidContent’s 2011 Conference in New York on Thursday, dismissed the notion that all bloggers should be paid, given the wide platform HuffPo gives them.
She argued that blogging on the Huffington Post is equivalent to going on Rachel Maddow, Jon Stewart or the “Today” show to promote their ideas.
And, she said, there are plenty of people willing to take their place if they do.
“The idea of going on strike when no one really notices,” Huffington said. “Go ahead, go on strike.”
Ariaana Huffington is a hypocrite. We all know this. I stopped linking to Huffpo about a year ago for different reasons – it has an anti-atheist bias.
Visual Art Source is a high quality producer of arts related content. I’ve been a reader for about two years. The site is one of my favorite places on the web. It’s the best place I’ve found to keep informed on the happenings in the my local arts scene. Their call for a strike seems valid. Their demands are simple:
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 propose the following – boycott Huffpo as a news source, and boycott Huffpo if you are a contributor. And, if you are interested in the Arts, subscribe to VAS.
