In 2011, the National Writers Union/UAW Local 1981 launched the Pay the Writer! campaign to reverse the race-to-the-bottom in online publishing. When profitable companies are asking writers for free material and blatantly ignoring copyright standards, freelance writers and their allies need to come together for change. Only together can we win a fair wage for online freelance writers.
Clearly there is money in internet publishing. Online advertising in 2011 was up 23% over 2010. Last year, AOL purchased the Huffington Post for $315 million and put Arianna Huffington in charge of AOL’s editorial content for a $4 million annual salary. The thousands of unpaid freelance journalists and other contributors whose contributions built the site didn’t see a dime of this money.
In 2012, the Huffington Post draws 22,000,000 unique visitors a month, but still relies on unpaid journalists. Case in point: The Huffington Post has relaunched its “Off the Bus” project to cover the presidential election. It calls the journalists who file for the project “citizen journalists.” These writers are not paid and are expected to subsidize the publication by covering their own expenses to report events. This is no way for freelance writers to make a living!
In 2008, unpaid “citizen journalists” broke major stories: Mayhill Flower’s report on candidate Obama’s “cling to guns and religion” observation was a seminal moment of the election. Her story drew 250,000 page views in its first 48 hours and dominated the news cycle.
Getting freelance writers paid will not be easy.
But the National Writers Union has a long history of doing the impossible. From setting freelancer contracts with publications like Mother Jones and the Village Voice in the 1980s, to taking on corporate titans like the New York Times and Google as well as winning over $1.5 million dollars in backpay for our members, NWU has always stood up for writers. “Freelance writers can’t win alone. It takes collective action. That’s why freelancers need the National Writers Union,” said NWU President Larry Goldbetter.
Please join us. Sign up to get involved. Follow us on twitter @paythewriter. Sign our Off the Bus petition. Only together can we win a living wage for freelance writers!
Please join Pay the Writer in a demonstration to tell Arianna Huffington that all writers deserve fair pay.
On Friday, May 18, Arianna Huffington will be receiving an award from The Women’s Forum of New York. We hope you can join us outside the Plaza Hotel (5th Ave at Central Park South) at 11 AM to spread the word that the only recognition Arianna deserves is for her continuing exploitation of unpaid labor.
Whether they’re called “bloggers” or “citizen journalists,” writers create value. AOL recognized this when they purchased the Huffington Post for $315 million. Through its Off the Bus project, the Huffington Post still uses unpaid citizen journalists for its election coverage.
If you can join us, please rsvp to: ptw@nwu.org or call 212.254.0275
On May 2, National Writers Union members and allies joined together to deliver a strong message to Arianna Huffington: All writers deserve to be paid!
Fighting for Freelance Writers, Photo Credit: Tiffany Jackson
Arianna approaches Pay the Writer, Photo Credit: Tiffany Jackson
Until freelance writers are fairly compensated for the value they create, Pay the Writer will continue to pressure companies that are exploiting this underpaid, and often unpaid, labor.
