Maryland Politics Watch: Blogoscabbing

Showing posts with label Blogoscabbing. Show all posts

Monday, August 30, 2010

Post Blogoscabbing Spreads to Redskins Coverage

Redskins blogger Curly R reports that the Washington Post is spreading its blogoscabbing program to cover the Redskins. This is even more evidence that the Post, which has virtually abandoned Montgomery County political coverage, is seeking to revive its failing financial performance through reliance on free labor. Post management needs to bear in mind something that everyone who has ever hired a home improvement contractor knows: you get what you pay for.

Friday, June 18, 2010

Post Pushes Bloggers for More Original Content

The Washington Post’s blogoscabbing program, through which it has convinced a few bloggers to work for it for free, attracted nationwide condemnation when we exposed it. But the Post is moving forward with the program, and it is pushing the bloggers relentlessly to hand over original content that would not appear on their blogs, but would appear only on the Post’s website.

When the Post tried to convince your author to sign on, its selling point was its alleged ability to drive traffic to our blog. The Post said that it would reprint a paragraph or two of at least some MPW posts and link back to the blog for the remaining content. Post spokesperson Kris Coratti told Media Jobs Daily, “We think there is value in the additional traffic it will drive to their blogs and in having their writing exposed to a new audience.” Your author pointed out to a Post representative that when its Maryland Politics blog did link to MPW, we received very little traffic bump, probably indicating that our audiences mostly overlapped. That was news to the Post, and so was MPW’s edge over them in online subscriber counts.

But merely reprinting and linking to existing blog content is not the Post’s goal. Their real intention is to direct the bloggers to provide content that would only appear on the Post’s website. And the Post has been emailing its bloggers non-stop to get them to provide this free and exclusive work.

On April 19, Post editor Sarah Lovenheim sent the following in an email to their bloggers:

Hi Folks,

This week marks the soft launch of our new local blogging network. We're thrilled to include all of you in this new feature and hope the experience is rewarding and exciting for everyone involved.

To make this successful, we'll stick to the workflow plan we discussed earlier. Here's our proposed guest blogging schedule (to reiterate: if it's your week to 'host,' we'd like to rely on you to submit a little extra if there's breaking news):

'HOST' SCHEDULE:

Peter Galuska of Bacon's Rebellion: April 19-23 (Peter - please let me know if this is for any reason a bad week)
Sommer Mathis of DCist: April 26-30
Topher Matthews of the Georgetown Metropolitan: May 3-7
Kenny Burns of Maryland Politics Today: May 10-14
Paige Winfield Cunningham of Old Dominion Watchdog: May 17-21
David Alpert of Greater Greater Washington: May 24-28
Dan Malouff of Beyond DC: May 31-June 4

Regardless of whether you're hosting, please submit a quick original post during the week. Length is not important. Sometimes the shorter, the better. Even one paragraph is fair game (assuming it's poignant, punchy or provocative).

This is not mere reprinting and linking to the bloggers’ existing content. The Post is establishing a “workflow plan” and explicitly asking for “original” – that is, exclusive – posts.

On April 21, Lovenheim sent this email to the bloggers:

Peter, Sommer, Kenny, Paige, Topher, Dan and David,

I hope you all had a chance to check out our All Opinions Local blog this morning. We posted an introductory piece highlighting the goals of our network and showcased bios of all of you. We've received positive feedback from colleages at the Post and hope you have, too!

Please feel free to key to the blog on your own sites. As we did with Peter Galuszka's piece (Peter - thanks again for a great post and the reporting you did on the side for it!), we'll key to your Web sites on all posts submitted/reposted.

As a reminder, please send any submissions or questions to localnetwork@wpost.com, rather than to just to myself or Mike. This way, we can be sure that someone always gets back to you in a timely manner.

Fred Hiatt, our editorial page editor, is enthusiastic about our kick off and as always, we'd welcome your suggestions on how to make this more robust moving forward.

Best,
Sarah

Here is the Post congratulating one of the bloggers for “reporting on the side” and urging them to drive traffic to the Post’s site.

On April 28, Lovenheim sent the following email to the bloggers:

Hi Folks,

Just touching base to see what sort of opinion/analysis pieces you might have in the basket. Some topics that would be great to have someone write on --

Maryland may change teacher evaluations (they'd be based on student performance), perhaps setting up a conflict between academics and teachers unions. Are these evaluations fair?

Some D.C. Council members want to prevent police from joining a federal fingerpointing program that lets authorities check the immigration status of people they arrest. How could this impact the broader immigration reform debate?

Please let us know of any pieces you have in the works and hope all is well.

Thanks,
Sarah

Now the Post is telling what the bloggers to write about!

On April 30, Lovenheim sent this email to the bloggers:

Hi, All,

Please let us know what you might have on tap for today. If you haven't contributed an original post yet this week, the earlier you can send your drafts, the better. As a reminder, a blog post can be as brief as a graf or two.

We have a new spot on the local homepage (see the Opinions hed) to promote your pieces and if we can keep the blog lively enough, that space could remain ours!

Thanks,
Sarah

On May 12, Lovenheim sent this email to the bloggers:

Hi, Folks,

Hope you're doing well. When you can, please let us know what you have on tap this week. Particularly if you haven't filed an original post yet (please remember: these can be brief), we'd love to know what you have in mind for later.

Thanks,
Sarah

And on May 17, Lovenheim sent out this email:

Hi, Folks,

Hope you all had a good weekend. If you haven't already, please let us know what you have on tap this week. We could really use some more content today -- whether you'd like to weigh in on a story from the weekend, pose a question to readers or file a paragraph or two on a new topic, we'd welcome your submissions.

Thanks so much,
Sarah

It’s obvious what’s going on here. The Post has absolutely no intention of driving traffic to independent blogs. Instead, it wants the bloggers to concentrate on writing free, exclusive content for the Post. Under the terms of its contract with the bloggers, the Post would have the right to republish that work even if the bloggers terminated the contract. Furthermore, in the event of a lawsuit over the work, the bloggers agree to indemnify the Post and assume all legal liability! And the Post is getting all of this for FREE.

Every paid reporter at the Post should be up in arms over this. In an organization that has lost hundreds of millions of dollars and has had four employee buyouts since 2003, how long will their jobs be safe?

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Friday, May 07, 2010

Blogosphere Blasts Blogoscabbing

The revolt against the Washington Post’s blogoscabbing program has spread from Twitter to blogs across the nation and beyond. As a result, we had our best day ever last Thursday and our second-best day ever last Friday. Six of our top ten best days have occurred since those posts went up. We can’t trace all of the links to our posts, but here’s a taste.

Fire Dog Lake, national liberal blog

The Washington Post’s new PostPolitics section will have an awesome new feature where they get local bloggers to write for them for free and own their content. It’s the new journalism!

Drift Glass, national liberal blog

Meanwhile in Totally Unrelated News, the Washington Pest/Post would totally love it if you would, uh, like, work for free!

The Big Lead, national sports blog

If the mainstream media is interested in a blog, this is how not to approach matters.

Unzipped, porn blog(!)

You gotta click on this one, you guys! Are you a blogger who's looking for a “real” job? Well then step right up because the Washington Post is hiring! Oh, one catch: There's no pay.

Sense of Events, blog about foreign policy, military affairs and religious matters

Why a blogger turned down an offer to write online for the Washington Post: it would have made him a blogoscabber, which sounds like a pretty good reason to me.

Citizen Journalism and Terrorism, blog about new media from the University of Kent, Canterbury, U.K.

Blogger turns down the “opportunity” to write for The Washington Post……….why??? Because they wanted him to work for free!!!

Muck Rack.com, blog for journalists on Twittter

Hats off to that blogger.

Wonkette, famous D.C. gossip and politics blog

This is why we need a bloggers union for Christ’s sake.

Swing State Project, national campaign and news blog

What a crock.

No Silence Here, blog on Knoxnews.com in Knoxville, Tennessee

Ouch! Blogger 1, WaPo 0

1115.org, national political blog

I guess the Post got bit by the hand they thought would feed them.

Letter From Here, local blog in Madison, Wisconsin

If the media are increasingly reluctant to pay for content, why on earth do they expect news “consumers” to pay for it? But then, nobody ever said the dinosaurs were very bright.

American Digest, conservative blog from Seattle

[Note: your author does not have permission from David Lublin, MPW’s founder, to quote mass profanity on this blog.]

Post Grad Apocalypse, writer’s blog from Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, NY

He has a really good point about why bloggers shouldn’t sell themselves short. It’s not just about us. It’s about the other writers who have climbed their way to a position that actually gets them paid. If you provide content for free just because other people do, you contribute to circumstances that lead to paid writers getting phased out. For the sake of more page views, you dismantle a whole system of writers getting wages.

First Draft, national liberal blog from New Orleans

Why would the Post even think bloggers would agree to something like this? Because. Because they think they're the Post, and you should aspire to be them, and if you're not aspiring to be them you should at least aspire for them to p*ss on you as they walk by.

Because MPW should just fall all over themselves to kiss the Post’s ring, right? They should be grateful, I mean, my God, that the Post would even NOTICE them? It's like an ant being smiled upon by a goddess! They shouldn’t ask for money from a multi-million-dollar news corporation! They should just be honored to be allowed to share the same pixels as the Post's actual staff writers.

After all, we’re just untutored filthy Internet people out here. None of us are trained journalists (except those who are) and none of us know enough about our livelihoods to value work properly (except those who do) and none of us have any idea how to build our own godd*mn incomes (except those making more money than Washington Post writers) without being adopted by Benevolent Media Daddy and shown the ropes as, you know, a favor. I mean, we really ought to pay THEM for the right to breathe their air!

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Twitter to Post: Bloggers Aren't Your Slaves

Egged on by Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas and film critic Roger Ebert, thousands of Twitterers are pouring in to MPW to read our rejection of the Washington Post's "offer" to work for them for free. As a result, MPW has earned more site traffic by turning down the Post than we would have ever gained through blogoscabbing.

Twitter had simmered a bit over our decision to stay out, but it was relatively low grade until yesterday.

Then Markos Moulitsas, who has nearly 18,000 Twitter followers, got involved. Last night, he wrote, "Dear Washington Post, you want content, pay for it. Bloggers aren't your slaves. http://is.gd/bMy48" The link steered followers to our blog post.

Roger Ebert, who has more than 137,000 Twitter followers, picked up on it.

Together, Moulitsas and Ebert spawned huge numbers of copycat Twitterers, all of whom linked to MPW. There are too many to count, but here is a sample.

Even Ezra Klein, a paid Post commentator, said MPW was right to turn them down!

Twitter's outrage against the Post will make this by far the most-visited day in the history of Maryland Politics Watch. Let that serve as a lesson for independent bloggers everywhere: a little self-respect can go a long, LONG way.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Why MPW Turned Down the Washington Post

Five weeks ago, I received an unsolicited offer from the Washington Post. They asked if they could post my picture and biography on their website and link to every new blog post appearing here if I agreed to produce regular original content for them at their request. I turned them down. Why?

Because they wanted me to work for them for nothing.

The Post is organizing a “local blogging network” linking to selected blogs from their website and asking bloggers to submit original content, which would be edited by them. The Post’s rights to that content would be enforceable under a written agreement. That agreement was written as follows:

Dear [Blogger],

This Agreement is intended to cover the republication of [blog] (the "Work"), written by [author] ("You") and originally published at [blog address] ("Your Site"), on WashingtonPost.com (the "Site") by The Washington Post ("The Post") and any original blog posts that you submit.

You and The Post agree to the following terms:

1. You grant to The Post a non-exclusive right to republish the Work (in whole or in part) on the Site in real time simultaneous with Your own publication of the Work, as well as the right to adapt, edit, display, store, and promote the Work in connection with such republication on the Site. The Post may also display or republish the Work or any part of it in forms or on media reasonably related to the Site, such as on mobile devices and in e-mail newsletters.

2. You shall facilitate the establishment of technical means to allow The Post to exercise the rights set forth in Paragraph 1.

3. You represent and warrant that the Work is Your own creation, that you have all necessary rights and permissions to grant the rights set forth in Paragraph 1, and that The Post’s republication and distribution of the Work will not violate any copyright or other right of any third party. You agree to indemnify and hold harmless The Post from any claim related to the Work.

4. As full consideration for the rights granted by You to The Post, The Post shall credit you and provide a link back to Your Site whenever The Post publishes the Work on The Site.

5. The Post's right to republish the Work on the Site in real time simultaneous with Your own publication of the Work shall terminate on 30 days notice by either party, although such termination shall not affect The Post's rights with respect to previously published material from the Work. You and The Post may renew this agreement with written notice prior to the termination date.

Your signature:
_________________________

Every blogger signing the agreement is expected to participate in a blogger “discussion” initiated by Post editors or other bloggers at least once a week. Each blogger is also expected to stick to a “workflow plan” in which he or she will manage the other bloggers and submit extra material for a week on a rotating basis. In return for this commitment, the bloggers receive… absolutely nothing.

When I was approached for this, I was told that I would be part of a group but the Post repeatedly refused to disclose who would be included in that group. Later, I learned that eight bloggers were solicited. The only other Maryland blogger was Kenny Burns, who averages 0.5 posts a week and was so embarrassed at our revealing his lack of traffic that he banned public access to his visit statistics.

So why did I not go along with this?

First, the Post underestimates the reach of the blogosphere. Let’s take MPW as an example. The Post will not release its Maryland site visits stats, so we have to use Google subscriber counts, which only track a minority of blog traffic, as a proxy. Here is a comparison between MPW and the Post’s Maryland sites.

Google Subscribers, 4/19/10

MPW: 337
Post, Maryland News Articles: 324
Post, Editorials Page (All): 208
Post, Maryland Politics Blog: 68

That’s right, folks, by this measure, MPW’s rag-tag band of volunteers, guests and rogues has slightly more regular online subscribers than the Post’s entire paid staff of Maryland reporters combined. Remind me again why WE should be working for the Post for free?

Not everyone shares the Post’s views on bloggers. Conservative billionaire and Examiner owner Phil Anschutz pays his bloggers, including some in Maryland like Mark Newgent and Michael Swartz. Why does Anschutz believe blogging has value when the supposedly enlightened Graham family does not?

Let’s remember the original purpose of this blog. American University professor David Lublin founded MPW in 2006 to look at Maryland politics from a Montgomery County point of view. I spend dozens of hours a week working on this blog for the joys of causing trouble, trading stories, unearthing new facts and slamming beers with the spies. I suppose someday I may have to run ads to pay for Andres’s diapers, although everyone knows there is no real money in this. But if I am going to be asked to make money for the Grahams, why shouldn’t I get a cut? Do they think I’m so desperate for their approval that I would sign away my work to them for nothing? Furthermore, I don’t believe that a masthead over my name lends anything to my words. Content stands on its own merit in the blogosphere.

Finally, the implications of the Post’s plan to use bloggers as free labor are troublesome for its paid columnists. The Post has several good local columnists like Colbert King, Courtland Malloy and Robert McCartney. If bloggers fill their functions for free, the Post will inevitably phase them out. In the labor movement, we have a term for workers who undercut other workers and threaten their jobs: scabs. As a labor guy for sixteen years, I have no intention of blogoscabbing.

And so this comes down to a choice: an extra couple dozen site visits per day or self-respect. For me, that’s an easy choice to make.

Maryland Politics Watch

Monday, August 30, 2010

Post Blogoscabbing Spreads to Redskins Coverage

Friday, June 18, 2010

Post Pushes Bloggers for More Original Content

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Top Blog Posts, April 2010

Friday, May 07, 2010

Blogosphere Blasts Blogoscabbing

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Twitter to Post: Bloggers Aren't Your Slaves

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Why MPW Turned Down the Washington Post

Blog Archive

Maryland Politics Watch's Fan Box

Followers

Contributors

Disclaimer

MPW Series

Links

Our Comment Policy