17 August 2008

[creative_life] "That's Just The Drudge Report With An Eva Gabor Accent"

1712.


That's Kevin Allman's take on the new local editions of The Huffington Post:



If you're getting the idea this is personal, it is. I've been hired to consult with Gambit, the alt-weekly here in New Orleans, and I'm working on their Web site, Blog of New Orleans (aka Gambit Daily). We're introducing guest bloggers on the site (bloggers, it should be noted, whose work kicks the shit out of Messrs. Cusack and Armisen) and the first rule was: guest bloggers get paid. (Not much, but they get checks, fill out tax forms, the whole W-9 yards.) I wouldn't be asking them to do it otherwise -- I've been agitating for years against the cruel hoax of "writing for exposure," and I believe what writers do is worth money. And respect.



We agree with Kevin (if we didn't, we wouldn't still have the NO!SPEC banner on our page here). What's more, we find that someone who's as wealthy as Arianna expecting people desperate for exposure to provide content for free unseemly. If it's good enough to publish, it's good enough to compensate.


Would you expect your mechanic to fix your car for free in hopes of getting more work if he does a good job and you tell people about it? Decent creative work deserves a decent paycheck.


Read Kevin's rant (it's a rant in the good way, because he puts his money where his mouth is) here.


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