“Hey Arianna, Can You Spare a Dime?”

February 14, 2011 Editor News aolhuffington posttoronto startrouble spots

California freelancers have started a Facebook group to ask Arianna Huffington to share some of her $350 million windfall from the recent sale of the Huffington Post to AOL. The episode is a stark lesson for those writers who thought that simply being allowed to contribute to this revolutionary media form was compensation enough. The new media is not that different from the old industrial cotton loom: soon enough, someone, somewhere is going to profit from your sweat.

UPDATE: Missed this before, but Heather Mallick took a run at Arianna and AOL last week herself in the Toronto Star. She then turned her sights on yet another online exploit:

When people are persuaded to work for free, it makes slavery more plausible. Take Demand Media, a U.S. firm that pays desperate people for piecework: $15 apiece for articles on nasal rash or how to shoe a pony and $3 to edit the thing. Demand values itself at $1.5 billion and is planning a $125 million IPO.

Writers and editors: the eternal dance

February 11, 2011 Editor News

Every writer can benefit from having additional eyeballs checking over his/her work prior to publication, but that doesn’t mean that relationships between writers and editors always go smoothly. Globe & Mail columnist Russell Smith opines on the issue at…

Content=journalism adulterated into mere commodity

February 09, 2011 Editor Journalism aolhuffington post

Tim Rutten skewers AOL and the Huffington Post in today's LA Times. The company and blog are a match made in journalism hell. Both have contributed to reducing online journalism to a slight commodity that exploits desperate journalists, many of whom lost their jobs - and benefits and pensions - in the traditional media. Here's the conclusion…

Don’t drop rule against false and misleading news

February 09, 2011 Editor Journalism canadian media guildcrtcjournalism ethics

The CRTC must withdraw the proposed weakening of a regulation that bans false and misleading news from the airwaves and call a public hearing on broadcast news, says the Canadian Media Guild. “The Commission appears to be proposing to give (broadcasters) free rein to lie and mislead the Canadian public in the guise of delivering news,” the CMG…

Media union concerned about journos in Egypt

February 04, 2011 Editor Journalism canadian media guildcwasca canadaegypt

The following statement has been posted at cmg.ca: We are deeply concerned about stories emerging this week from Egypt about beatings, detention and harassment of journalists, including our own colleagues.The events underscore how dangerous our work can be and yet how vitally important it is in order to let the world know what is going at times…

Unlocking the cells at the Toronto Star

February 01, 2011 Editor Event eventmassey collegetoronto star

Toronto Star editor Michael Cooke will be the guest at Massey College's Press Club Night on February 16. John Fraser, the Master of the college, which houses a few 19th century presses in the basement, will host the conversation based on Cooke's answer to his question of "how many new journalists" the paper had to hire to "enliven" itself over…

Two years of shame at Journal de Montreal

January 24, 2011 Editor News csnjournal de montrealquebecor

Two hundred and fifty-three Journal de Montréal workers marked their second anniversary on the picket line today. They were locked out by their employer, media giant Quebecor, on January 24, 2009, after employees refused to accept concessions. The paper has continued to publish, although many, many freelancers have heeded the call to stop…

Paid surfing coming to NYTimes.com

January 24, 2011 Editor News dallas morning newsdigitalnew york timesonline subscriptionwall street journal

The Wall Street Journal online is reporting that the New York Times is planning to launch a paid subscription system, likely next month, for online content. The system will allow casual surfers a certain amount of free content and targets instead the 15% of "heavy users" for a monthly sub fee. Right now, according to the report, the site generates…

HarperCollins seeks the right morals

January 19, 2011 Editor News e-readsfreelance contractsharpercollins

Most freelancers are familiar with the concept of moral rights: the right to claim authorship of their work, and the right to not have it distorted or "folded, spindled and mutilated" in such a way that it would damage the author's reputation.US publisher HarperCollins has recently started talking about morals of another kind. The company wants to…

Another freelance class action suit settled

January 18, 2011 Editor News digitalgetting paidrobertson caserogers publishingtoronto star

A tentative settlement worth approximately $5.5 million was reached on behalf of freelancers with a group of publishers including the Toronto Star Newspapers and Rogers Publishing. The Ontario Superior Court of Justice will consider the tentative settlement in April.Many Canadian freelance writers have heard of Robertson v. Thomson, a 2006…