Leftie Bloggers Sue Huffington Post
Posted by Jim Hoft on Tuesday, April 12, 2011, 12:11 PM
A group of organized leftie bloggers sued Huffington Post today. They want to get paid for their contributions to the far left website.
Author and freelance journalist Jonathan Tasini is leading the effort against HuffPo after writing 216 posts without pay.
Forbes reported:
Huffington Post bloggers who think they ought to get paid for their volunteer writing have been litigating their case in the court of public opinion. Now they’re taking it to a real one.
Today, a group of bloggers led by union organizer and journalist Jonathan Tasini filed a class-action suit against the Huffington Post, founder Arianna Huffington, and AOL, which acquired the news-and-blogs site in February. (Update: On a call this morning, Tasini vowed to make Huffington “a pariah in the progressive community” and said his goal is to set a precedent that writers must share in the value they create.)
Tasini, the lead plaintiff, has been a blogger for Huffpo since December 2005, when the site was just seven months old. According to his blogger page, however, he stopped posting on February 10, three days after the purchase of the site by AOL was announced. I emailed him for more information about the suit; he responded by inviting me to participate in a telephone press conference.
AOL agreed to buy Huffington Post this year for $315 million.
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Kevin commented:
Wait, they’re, gasp, capitalists?? I’m so confused.
Granny commented:
You can’t blame them. What made the HuffPo were the various blogs written by contributors who did not receive a penny for their efforts. Had those blogs not existed, HuffPo would never in a million years attained the traffic that it did. If Arianna Huffington is going to have a big payday, then those who earned it for her deserve a fair share of the proceeds.
locomotivebreath1901 commented:
I love it when they attempt to eat their own.
That being said, I side with Arianna and AOL.
Why? The right of contract, freedom of assembly, and private property rights. All core conservative beliefs that Arianna/AOL now hypocritically seek refuge behind in this manufactured ‘labor dispute’ from these neo-bolsheviks she allowed under her skirt.
These neo-bolshevik twits who slaved for years, voluntarily and gratis, are now simply utilizing the malignant knee-jerk entitlement attitude Arianna made a fortune cultivating: that of these neo-bolshevik thieves to force their way into other people’s wallets, then rape the victim three ways from Sunday, all with a liberal Judge’s court order to facilitate the brutality, of course.
Neo-bolshevik thuggery aimed at one of their own media darlings.
I love it when they attempt to eat their own.
Say. I wonder how long your huney bunny benefactor, uncle Geo. Soros will leave you twisting in the wind on this one, Arianna?
Dave-O commented:
Pass the popcorn!
Right is Right commented:
Anti-Capitalist pigs sue Anti-Capitalist pig to Capitalize off the Anti-Capitalist pig who Capitalized off its Anti-Capitalist pigs.
How Oxymoronic
garrettc commented:
What part of uncompensated ( i.e., free) did they not understand?
RedBeard commented:
My dictionary is apparently not the one those bloggers are using, at least not when it comes to the word “volunteer.”
That said, I’m sitting over here in the corner with Dave-O, chomping on popcorn (and maybe later an RC and a Moon Pie), just enjoying the heck out of this mud rasslin’ match between lefties.
theotherjimmyolson commented:
Apparently No one here understands the meaning of the word capitalist.
moron commented:
I wonder how lard tail Michael Moore’s capitalist pig lawsuit for $3 million is going? Poor capitalist pig babies.
Wm T Sherman commented:
Wants to make Ariana a pariah in the progressive community? If these people had any sense she’d have been a pariah years ago. Everything is the way you made it, dummies.
Ipso Facto commented:
As Clint Eastwood’s character said in the movie, Unforgiven, “Deserve’s got nothing to do with it”.
gus commented:
Jim, I still haven’t told…..”the others” about the payment$. It’$ our little $ecret.
Rock commented:
Oh no, looks like the ambulance chaser have found a new pool to piss in.
jimg commented:
after writing 216 posts without pay.
Hilarious.
215 posts written for free wasn’t enough of a clue.
But 216? Dammit! I have had enough!
Bert commented:
Time to share the wealth, Arianna.
ASCII Mohammed commented:
(((((:~{>
_____|\________________________________________________________
|
| And I thought *my* followers were easily taken in…
| What do you think, Mussingtonpost… Mossingtonpost?
|______________________________________________________________
RedBeard commented:
Quite a career this Tasini guy has had, According to Wikipedia, he is a “strategist, organizer, activist, commentator and writer…” And also, according to his history, he’s a consultant (whatever that means), a class action lawsuit aficionado and a repeated failure as a political candidate. The only thing missing from that resume is a productive job.
He and Huffpo deserve each other.
Guest commented:
The irony is so thick, the jokes almost write themselves!
BigAlSouth commented:
#2 Granny. I am surprised at you!
Look, If I let my dog crap on your lawn 216 times, are you gonna pay me if I send you a bill for fertilizer? Will it make any difference if you just sold your house for $500,000.00?
Come on, granny! Share the wealth with ole BigAlSouth!
No Man commented:
I hope they all LOSE.
MustComment commented:
LOL… Gotta luv when they turn on each other!
SandyfromChesterfield commented:
Arianna believes in socialism. You must do a job but do not expect to get paid for it.
tommy mc donnell commented:
if they get any money from i hope they give it to the politicans like they think anyone that earns money should do. you know so the politicans can feed the hungry, house the homeless, tend the sick, and all those other wonderful things politicans.
Taxpayer commented:
Good luck with that one. Arianna has a LOT more money than you do.
donh commented:
This explains the dramatic fall in left liberal troll postings on this site. Communist propaganda talking point spam has become an unpaid volunteer work effort. They only went to work in mass on this site during the WI Supreme court election vote count. This is another bad omen for the dems come 2012 elections.
Daniel commented:
vol·un·teer [ vòllən tr ]
somebody who works for nothing: somebody who works without being paid
somebody acting voluntarily: somebody who does something voluntarily, especially something undesirable
voluntary recruit to armed forces: somebody who has freely offered to serve in the armed services
Synonyms: soldier, private, enlisted person, draftee, volunteer, conscript, recruit, veteran
Rhinestone Suderman commented:
What? Queen Arianna actually pay her serfs, for making her successful?
The very idea!
/Sarc. off.
S. Wolf commented:
Did they have a contract to write posts for pay? No? So sorry, they volunteered to contribute for free. Should we expect Mr. Hoft to pay us for posting? Haha..
LB commented:
Tasini was successful in a landmark case in copyright law. It led to a change of freelance contracts to protect producers if the purchaser re-sold their work in a new format. Such as when newspapers and magazines put their archives up for sale via online formats, the freelancer needed to get a cut.
While I believe that decision was correct, I don’t know how his latest case will go. Freelancers normally agree to a contract which defines use — if the use changes – can the contract still be enforced? If AOL starts selling previously ‘free’ material without securing a new agreement with the writers that would be a violation. If the material is still offered for free, I don’t think he has a case.
Opinionator commented:
#25 April 12, 2011 at 6:16 pm
donh commented:
“This explains the dramatic fall in left liberal troll postings on this site. Communist propaganda talking point spam has become an unpaid volunteer work effort. They only went to work in mass on this site during the WI Supreme court election vote count. This is another bad omen for the dems come 2012 elections.”
Yep. It’s the O economy/destruction of America in progress. O the irony. Even the basement dwellers need $2 for Cheetos.
Reality might wake them up? Never.
Johnny Rebel commented:
Lefty “volunteers” get jealous when money changes hands. Arianna is obviously a “CAPITALIST PIG” to use The Left’s own term, she just parades as a lefty socialist until she can get PAID.
No doubt she will fill out her tax forms to KEEP as much of this money as she can too. She will try to write off everything in the world to KEEP THE MONEY while she advocates for higher taxes for you and me.
J commented:
All those lefty bloggers care about is profit.
Annie commented:
Lol, this is quite humorous, even for liberals.