Fox “Select” Content Exploiting Bloggers

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Earlier this year Fox Sports announced separate deals with Bleacher Report and Yardbarker to begin featuring “fan journalism” being posted at FoxSports.com alongside established writers.

All of the parties involved hailed it as milestone, claiming it would provide bloggers with an opportunity to have their work highlighted by a major web site.

I’m one of the few who recognized these arrangements for what they really are – a means of exploiting bloggers to generate revenue.

Many have written their opinions why Fox decided to make such a drastic move. Sports Tech Now wrote, “This a great move by Fox Sports as they will be able to get a ton of new content at bargain prices. Bloggers will just be happy to get linked up by a major network.”

Bargain prices is right, and by bargain I mean FREE. Bloggers’ aren’t paid a dime to have their content posted at Fox. Moreover, none of the primary parties are doing anything to protect the copyrights of the content being selected for publication.

Granted, there are bloggers who are very pleased to have their content selected for publication by Fox, but it’s obvious those bloggers haven’t figured out they are being used.

Some will attempt to make an argument suggesting the notoriety will potentially lead to a professional writing gig. That’s a pipe dream. Newspapers and periodicals around the nation are suffering from diminishing subscriptions, and they’ll continue to plummet. What makes anyone think writing jobs will be available in the future?

If Fox or any other major sports network wanted to increase the number of visitors to their sites, they’d have to pay hundreds of new writers to provide the content they’d need. That’s a cost no one wants to incur, thus, the arrangements with Bleacher Report and Yardbarker filled many needs for Fox, all at virtually no expense.

RotoNation had their own take on the arrangements, “Why is FOX Sports trying to get all of this content? Simply, it needs to differentiate itself from ESPN, and one way to do that is by having better articles. These partnerships give FOX access to a vast array of original writing. Writing that it simply does not have the resources to create itself. FOX will not be publishing everything, just the good, special stuff.”

The “good, special stuff” that RotoNation referenced is another way of saying Fox is only interested in content that has a long shelf life. If you’ve seen some of the “special” stuff you’ll note it was selected because it had the potential to remain on the site for a long time, ultimately driving traffic to Fox while increasing their revenue.

I can appreciate Fox’s desire for better content and understand the need for differentiating itself from ESPN, but the fact is they didn’t need to go outside their own blog network to get the content.

I started blogging at Fox last October. While the reasons I left aren’t important, I can tell you there are many who post at Fox Sports Blogs that are very good. The arrangements with Bleacher Report and Yardbarker have led to some Fox bloggers being pushed aside while “outsider” content is given special treatment.

One Fox blogger, whom I shall keep anonymous, went as far to say they were irked with the way Fox has highlighted content from other sources and limited the exposure of long-time Fox bloggers.

I’m the most die-hard capitalist you’ll ever meet and I have no problem with anyone making a profit. I don’t have a problem with a blogger wishing to increase their exposure by availing themselves of the Fox arrangements with Bleacher Report and Yardbarker.

What I have a problem with is the fact no one analyzing these arrangements seems to get what is actually taking place here, other than me.

All of these developments have given me pause to consider the creation of an open resource site owned and operated by a blogger, with the sole intent of highlighting fellow bloggers’ content and that being the only purpose.

To carry that thought even further, the creation of such a site could lead to a coalition of bloggers’ sharing the revenues as opposed to having their content exploited. Instead of our hard work generating revenue for others, why not make money for ourselves?

Each blogger and site owner has to decide what their purpose for blogging is, be it leisure or to earn a primary or secondary income. At some point all of us have to decide what our proportionate worth is in the marketplace.

I for one do not believe a bloggers’ work is worth nothing, as those at Bleacher Report, Yardbarker and Fox apparently believe. Our content has value, whether anyone realizes it or not. Would a professional journalist allow their works to be posted without receiving compensation?

Of course not. Why should we?