Saturday, March 9, 2013

Coverage of the writing for free (exposure) vs. writing for pay debate

This week, journalist Nate Thayer posted an email exchange between himself and an editor at The Atlantic where Thayer rejected the publication's offer to publish his work without monetary compensation. The email exchange and issues raised by the idea of writing or working for free for a major publication set off a wide-ranging debate among writers, editors, and readers of various publications. In short, some say exposure without pay in a major venue comes with rewards, while others say that writing for free in major venues is never acceptable.  

Below, I provide links to some of the writings on the topic.

• March 4: A Day in the Life of a Freelance Journalist--2013 - Nate Thayer - Natethayer 
• March 5: Nate Thayer vs. The Atlantic - Joe Coscarelli  - New York magazine
• March 5: Statement from James Bennet, editor The Atlantic
• March 5: People Writing for Free on the Internet is an enormous boon for society - Matthew Yglesias  - Slate
• March 5: The Atlantic feels the heat from journalism for no pay business model - Nate Thayer - Natethayer 
• March 5: The problem with freelance journalism - Felix Salmon - Reuters
• March 5: On Writing for Free - Jason Fry - jasonfry
• March 5: The State of Online Journalism Today: Controversial - Jane Friedman - janefriedman.com
• March 6: Whining About Unpaid Writing Gigs Isn't Going To Increase Writers' Incomes - Timothy B. Lee - Forbes
• March 6: A Day in the Life of a Digital Editor, 2013 - Alexis C. Madrigal - The Atlantic
• March 6: The new economics of media - Mathew Ingram - paidContent
• March 6: Paying for great writing in the Internet age - Patrick Thornton - Patthornfiles.com
• March 6: Why magazines should pay their writers (or die trying not to) - Stuart Thomson - Edmonton Journal
• March 6: I’m Glad I Was An Unpaid Blogger - Greogory Fernenstein -- techcrunch
• March 6: The future of journalism: It's time to pick a side - Paul Carr - Pandodaily
• March 6: Here, let the Atlantic explain at you about why they do not pay people - Kris E. Benson - Wonkette
• March 6: Why I Write for Free - Stephanie Lucianovic - The Atlantic Wire
• March 6: How have you devalued professional writing today? - Mark Armstrong - markarms
• March 6: Dong that one thing - Om Malik - gigaom.com
• March 6: How Much Should A Writer Get Paid? A Conversation - Choire Sicha et al. - The Awl
• March 6: More Nate Thayer Please -- Besty Rothstein -- FishbowlDC
• March 6: Atlantic guy continues to mansplain why it's ok to work for free - Kris E. Benson - Wonkette
• March 6: Journalists are now expected to work for next to nothing - Roy Greenslade - The Guardian
• March 7: Nate Thayer is a plagiarist - Jeremy Duns - Jeremy Duns
• March 7: Did Thayer Plagiarize in the Article The Atlantic Wanted for Free? - Joe Coscarelli - New York magazine
• March 7: Most everyone gets asked to write for free, only some people say yes - Kelly McBride -- Poynter
• March 8: When People Write for Free, who pays? - Cord Jefferson - Gawker
• March 8: The ethics of freelancing for free - Mark Coddington - Nieman Journalism Lab
• March 9: 'Lucrative Work-for-Free Opportunity' - Ta-Nehisi Coates - The Atlantic


Related:
Coverage of books, authors & special topics 
• February 12, 2011: The Economics of Blogging and The Huffington Post -- Nate Silver -- FiveThirtyEight

No comments: