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1. Portside Letter to Ariana Huffington - “Fair play and fair pay for freelance workers”
2. What You Can Do to Support the Electronic Picketline (Suggestions from the Portside moderators)
3. Guild tells HuffPost writers: ‘Don’t work for free’
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To: Ariana Huffinton Subject: Fair play and fair pay for freelance workers
Date: April 26, 2011 
Cc: The Newspaper Guild (CWA)

The Huffington Post has become an influential site largely because it has spoken in the voice of progressive journalism. Now many of the bloggers who have been an essential element of that success and the union that represents them are asking you to not only talk progressive talk, but to walk the progressive walk.

Huffington Post’s unpaid bloggers may not have economic might on their side, but they certainly have right. When a journalistic venture transforms from a startup that makes no money into one that sells for hundreds of millions of dollars and generates a large stream of advertising revenue, it should discuss a fair system of compensation with its writers, including those not on its regular payroll.

Ariana, we ask that you begin talks with your freelance writers about a fair pay model. To refuse to do so is a travesty of progressive principles. New technologies and new models of journalism certainly require new models of compensation. Forging such models is critical to a future of sustainable, quality citizen journalism. But the model cannot be that the many freelance writers contribute their work for nothing while a few owners claim all the revenues. It cannot be that writers have no collective voice or representation.

Portside (portside.org) supports the Electronic Picketline of Huffington Post called by Visual Art Source and The Newspaper Guild/Communication Workers of America (AFL-CIO). We urge others to do likewise. It is a call for simple justice.

Portside Moderators http://www.portside.org/
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What You Can Do to Support the Electronic Picketline

As long as the virtual picketline is in place, Portside will not post materials that appear on Huffington Post

* Join in support of The Newspaper Guild (CWA)
* If you are writer, please do not submit material to Huffington Post, there are many other sources and venues for publication
* If you are a reader, please do not re-post, forward or share material from Huffington Post on Facebook or other social media
* Please contact writers and bloggers whose material appears on Huffington Post and share this information with them.
* Please let Ariana Huffington know that you are taking this position
* Contact the TNG-CWA Freelance Project to let them know that you support the Electronic Picketline, so that they can add names to the list of those honoring the digital picket line. [TNG-CWA Freelance Project Coordinators: East Coast: Lauri Lebo, laurilebo@gmail.com or West Coast: Rebecca Rosen-Lum rrosenlum@gmail.com
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Guild tells HuffPost writers: ‘Don’t work for free’

16 Mar 2011
The Newspaper Guild-CWA

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 practice of using unpaid labor. 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 media workers, 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 million 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 Huffington Post 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.

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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 Freelance Project Coordinators:
East Coast: Lauri Lebo
West Coast: Rebecca Rosen-Lum