Arianna sells out to AOL for $310 Million - leftists file Class Action lawsuit

[Soul Crusher]

Huffington Post contributors go on strike, propose collective bargaining
The Daily Caller ^ | 3/4/2011 | Steven Nelson

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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.”

Visual Art Source members have contributed content to the Huffington Post for free since 2010. Lasarow wrote that “it is unethical to expect trained and qualified professionals to contribute quality content for nothing.”

How far the strike will spread is currently unclear. But Lasarow wrote that his group is calling for broad participation by Huffington Post contributors. “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,” wrote Lasarow.

Lasarow wrote that his organization has two demands. The first, that the Huffington Post develop a system for paying writers and bloggers. The second, for the site to differentiate between paid promotional content and writers’ work.

The group proposes a system of collective bargaining for contributors, expressing hope that they band together to “form a negotiating partnership with Huffington/AOL in order to pursue these and other important matters so as to professionalize this relationship.”

While not paying contributors is perfectly legal, Lasarow noted, it is “unethical and oh so very hypocritical.”

The group hopes that Huffington will “do the right thing” and agree to their requests. However, Lasarow wrote that he would be unsurprised if “like the corporate titans of the American Right… 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?”

Robert Scheer wrote in The Nation on February 23 a defense of Huffington’s system of not paying contributors. “In defense of the use of unpaid bloggers, of which I happen to be one among the many who appear on a regular basis on the Huffington Post, we are not exploited,” wrote Scheer.

The contributors on strike claim that well-known contributors “who will never need to be concerned about pay scales” should be ashamed of themselves for abetting the current situation.

Scheer claimed that “for most contributors, the op-ed page was never a serious source of income.”

Huffington dismissed the strike Thursday at a conference hosted by PaidContent in New York City. “Go ahead, go on strike,” Huffington said, deriding “the idea of going on strike when no one really notices.”



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ha ha ha ha ha ha! ! ! ! !  ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !  ! ! ! !

[Soul Crusher]

The group proposes a system of collective bargaining for contributors, expressing hope that they band together to “form a negotiating partnership with Huffington/AOL in order to pursue these and other important matters so as to professionalize this relationship.”


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I really am speechless how stupid these idiot are.  Its almost as if I pity these dupes at this point.   

[Fury]

Huffington dismissed the strike Thursday at a conference hosted by PaidContent in New York City. “Go ahead, go on strike,” Huffington said, deriding “the idea of going on strike when no one really notices.”


Seems quite appreciative of the job they did building her site for her. Hahaha.

[Soul Crusher]

She knows there will be thousands lined up after these silly goofs stamp their feet to take their place. 

[Soul Crusher]

 

[Soul Crusher]

April 12, 2011 8:45 AM PDT
Blogger targets AOL, seeks class-action status
by Caroline McCarthy


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(Credit: Huffington Post) A political activist and longtime blogger for The Huffington Post filed suit Tuesday against the digital publication, its founders Arianna Huffington and Kenneth Lerer, and its new parent company AOL, citing its use of unpaid blogger talent. The plaintiff, Jonathan Tasini, is seeking class-action status; he filed on behalf of a "putative class" of the estimated 9,000 people who have been published on The Huffington Post without compensation.

"Arianna Huffington is pursuing the Wal-Martization of creative content and a Third World class of creative people," Tasini said in a press release. "Actually, that is unfair to Wal-Mart because at least Wal-Mart pays its workers something for the value those workers create. In Arianna Huffington's business model, economic gain is only reserved for her. Everyone else, apparently, is expected to work for free regardless of the value they create. Greed and selfishness is the order of the day."

Tasini has been a prominent online advocate for labor rights, specifically those of freelance writers, for about a decade now. He ran unsuccessfully for national political office several times, including a campaign to challenge then-New York senator Hillary Clinton in 2006, but his most high-profile role thus far has been as the face of the 2001 U.S. Supreme Court case New York Times Co. v. Tasini, in which freelancers petitioned against the digital distribution without permission or compensation of articles that were originally intended to run in print. The judgment was decided in favor of the freelancers.

Tasini's complaint against AOL and The Huffington Post, filed in a New York district court, requests approximately $105 million in damages.

AOL purchased The Huffington Post for $315 million earlier this year, an acquisition that reinvigorated complaints on behalf of critics who have long decried its use of unpaid talent in exchange for "exposure." (The Huffington Post also employs full-time, salaried reporters and editors.)

One of the most prominent Huffington Post bloggers, Mayhill Fowler--who reported Barack Obama's "clinging to guns and religion" quotation during the 2008 election race--publicly began decrying the unpaid blogger model last fall, saying that she believed she was entitled to compensation because she was contributing reporting rather than opinion pieces.

When CNET contacted The Huffington Post for comment, representatives from the company had not yet seen Tasini's lawsuit. But spokesman Mario Ruiz said via e-mail, "Such a lawsuit would be completely baseless. Our bloggers utilize our platform to connect and ensure that their ideas and views are seen by as many people as possible. It's the same reason hundreds of people go on TV shows--to broadcast their views to as wide an audience as possible."

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Caroline McCarthy
 
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Caroline McCarthy, a CNET News staff writer, is a downtown Manhattanite happily addicted to social-media tools and restaurant blogs. Her pre-CNET resume includes interning at an IT security firm and brewing cappuccinos.
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