Arianna Huffington doesn’t appreciate the value of bloggers, scoffing at a group of unpaid contributors who have decided to stop publishing content at the Huffington Post.
Huffington exhibited arrogance and hypocrisy when dismissing the notion that all bloggers should be paid, essentially telling the writers for ArtScene and Visual Art Source that no one would notice if they stopped contributing to HuffPo.
Huffington said that the site employs 183 paid journalists, with generous benefits, who are assigned stories and asked to work overtime when major stories break. She said bloggers don’t have those responsibilities.
“It’s just absurd for me to compare the two,” Huffington said.
What Huffington attempts to have us believe is that a comparison is needed to justify compensation, but that effort fails the smell test.
She argued that having content published on her web site amounts to a privilege, saying that the Huffington Post provides bloggers with a platform they wouldn’t otherwise have.
While that argument may be true to some extent, the fact that she’s made millions off the work of bloggers who write for the Huffington Post without compensating them unveils what is her true nature.
Huffington displayed selfishness and a stunning lack of gratitude for those that helped her make the Huffington Post what it is today.
Huffington doesn’t work for free, but apparently she believes that some people – namely bloggers – should work without being compensated.
Suggesting that bloggers’ time and original content doesn’t have value is an argument that has been used for years, and it’s not limited to sites that focus on politics.
Considering Huffington just closed a deal with AOL for $315 million, you would think she could scrape up a few bucks to pay everyone contributing content to her site.
Even more shocking is the fact that Huffington is a committed liberal, at least she is now after being a committed conservative for years. But in reality, she’s more like a chameleon changing colors and political views for the sole purpose of sweetening her coffers.
For someone who likes to champion causes for the little guy, frequently expressing her feigned concern for millions of working Americans who are struggling to make ends meet, her refusal to compensate bloggers who produce content is in stark contrast to her liberal ideals.
Anyone writing for the Huffington Post without compensation is being used, and Huffington will continue using them as long as she’s making money.
The bloggers of ArtScene and Visual Art Source were right to stop providing content for the Huffington Post, and every other blogger should stop too.
Arianna Huffington is a hypocrite, and I don’t have to prove it – she did all the proving for me.
