THE OBSERVER: The Huffington Post website made her the heroine of America's left, but critics say she failed to pay bloggers and used items generated by other news organisationsArianna Huffington has long reigned as the queen of America's chattering classes, using her Huffington Post website as a platform to transform herself into a darling of the United States' left-leaning media elite.
But no longer. Since she announced that the HuffPo was being sold to web giant AOL for $315m, Huffington has been accused of being a political sellout and someone who made a personal fortune from the labour of thousands of bloggers who write for no pay.
America's Newspaper Guild, the journalists' union, has started a campaign to target the Huffington Post as having a business model that has done great damage by not paying contributors. It has demanded that Huffington donate some of her AOL deal profits to investing in paid journalism. "After building a media empire based on unpaid writers and republishing the works of others... we are calling on Arianna Huffington to invest in quality journalism by sharing a portion of this fortune," said the guild's president, Bernie Lunzer.
That appeal is likely to fall on deaf ears. HuffPo spokesman Mario Ruiz denied the website was a problem for the industry, saying: "It's both wrong and offensive to insist that the HuffPo is exploiting journalists."
But since the AOL deal was announced this month, there has been an avalanche of criticism of the website and its smooth-talking founder. "To grasp its business model... you need to picture a galley rowed by slaves and commanded by pirates," blasted Los Angeles Times columnist Tim Rutten. >>> Paul Harris, New York | Sunday, February 27, 2011
FACEBOOK: "Hey Arianna, Can You Spare a Dime?" >>>
FACEBOOK: Info – Arianna – AOL deal >>>
GUILD FREELANCERS: Petition: Arianna got millions; we got bylines >>>
