http://talkingunion.wordpress.com/2011/01/26/why-huffington-post-fired-me/Posted on January 26, 2011 by dsalaborblogmoderator
by Mike Elk
Last Thursday, I was “fired” as a labor blogger from the Huffington Post by executive business editor Peter Goodman for helping a group of union construction workers disrupt a conference of bankers. (I put fired in quotations marks because I, like the majority of people who blog for the site, was not paid for my contributions.) The workers demanded to know why Pulte Group’s vice chairwoman was leading the summit, and how her company grabbed a $900 million government bailout made up of funds that came from the Worker, Homeownership and Business Assistance Act of 2009. That bill was intended to create jobs and extend benefits to unemployed workers, but union workers said no jobs were created with this money.
Goodman, who was recently hired away from the New York Times, informed me in a phone conversation that he received complaints from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) about my role in disrupting their convention. I received media accreditation for the conference based on my status as a blogger with the Huffington Post. I then shared my accreditation with a union leader in order to help him gain access to this event.
Goodman said this warranted the termination of my role as a blogger with the Huffington Post. During our phone conversation, he said I misrepresented my relationship as a blogger with the Huffington Post, and he compared my actions to those of disgraced New York Times reporter Jayson Blair. Up until last week, my relationship with the Huffington Pot consisted of me producing over 100 posts without them paying me a dime.
Goodman sees this as an issue of journalistic ethics; I see it quite differently. Goodman was likely paid a substantial amount to leave the New York Times for the Huffington Post.
While Business Insider’s sources said Goodman might be getting $300,000 a year, the exact amount isn’t as important as the fact that the Huffington Post doesn’t have a full-time labor reporter.
In contrast, I am a freelance labor journalist, mostly likely making a tenth of Goodman’s salary through various contracts that I desperately cobble together. As a result, I identify heavily with the struggle of the workers whose stories I report. I write largely for an audience of workers in order to amplify their struggles and issues. Our differences play a large role in our style, the perspectives we bring to what we write, and the tactics we use to report on economic issues. Up until last week, the Huffington Post had no issue with these differences.
FULL story at link.
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