Nate Thayer, the respected journalist, recently ranted against expecting writers to work for free, and specifically against his being asked to work for free by huge outlet Atlantic.com. What happened next? HuffPoTV asked him to come on and talk about this pressing issue.
Can you see where this is going?
Nate Thayer on his blog, responding to HuffPo’s request:
“I would be happy to appear on the show, but let’s be frank here. You guys are the very poster child of using unpaid writers as the equivalent of slave labor as the very core of your business model to provide “news” to news consumers. If you are under any remote misimpression I won’t be required to mention, and probably focus rather vigorously on, that fact, you would be mistaken. The Huffington Post is perhaps the most logical example of the merits of why I refused the Atlantic’s request in the first place. You must be–or certainly should be–aware that you would very mistaken to think I would not raise that issue for discussion on your show.
I would be both happy to appear on your television show and certainly will raise the topic of the Huffington Post being perhaps the starkest example of the type of media organization I refuse to enable.”
Thayer was subsequently disinvited to appear.
*snerk*
One assumes that the Huffington Post staff have internalised their own memeplex: “everyone is happy to work in return for ‘exposure'”.
You should read Thayer’s full post at the link. The HuffPo editor who approached him was aware of the irony, but still had no shame in asking.