BREAKTHROUGH FOR FREELANCERS

Jody Kolodzey, Co-Chair of the Philadelphia Local of the National Writers Union, reports: “Freelance writers settle, but don’t quiet down:

“Jonathan Tasini, the former National Writers Union president whose name will be forever linked with The New York Times as the result of a class-action lawsuit originally filed against the newspaper in 1993, responded to a pending $18 million settlement in the 12-year-old case with a call for greater vigilance, activism and unity.

“‘This is wonderful, but the reality is that it doesn’t change the power relationship that has always existed between freelance writers and the publishing industry,’ Tasini said last night. ‘This is a time to celebrate, but it is also a time to strengthen our organizing efforts. The industry still has tremendous power.’

“Under the terms of the agreement, which Tasini helped draft, individual writers may be paid as much as $1,500 per article for previously published work; the minimum the writers will get is $60 per article.

“The settlement had been in mediation since 2001, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Tasini et al v. The New York Times et al that The Times and other publishers had committed copyright infringement by reselling freelance articles, via electronic databases such as Lexis-Nexis, without asking permission or making additional payments to the original authors.

“According to Tasini, the mediator in the case was the same Kenneth R. Feinberg who is administering the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund.

“The settlement enables the publishers to compensate the writers without admitting their guilt, noted Gerald Colby, current president of the NWU, one of three writers’ organizations that acted as plaintiffs in the latest incarnation of the suit.

“Yesterday, the 3,400-member NWU, the 8,000-member Authors Guild and the 1,100-member American Society of Journalists and Authors joined 21 individual freelancers in filing for court approval of the settlement. The filing came in the wake of an agreement reached late last week between the writers and some three dozen major publishers and database companies.”

LIBERAL BLOGGERS CHALLENGE PRESS CLUB

An Open Letter To The National Press Club
Sean-Paul Kelley | San Antonio | March 28

To: Members of The National Press Club:

“We, the undersigned bloggers, are very concerned about how liberal political bloggers are being systematically under-represented and belittled in the mainstream media, academic settings and media forums. By being intentionally excluded away from these venues, we are effectively pushed out of the discourse of opinion-leaders. The result is that the conventional wisdom about blogging, politics and journalism, as it concerns liberal blogs, becomes a feedback loop framed by the Conservatives and their media allies.”

http://www.agonist.org/story/2005/3/28/135915/053

THEY SAY IT’S YOUR BIRTHDAY

Air America marks its first anniversary Thursday with a party at the Museum of Broadcasting in New York. It has named a new president to work with CEO Danny Goldberg: Premiere Radio Networks executive VP of music operations and Country Radio Broadcasters secretary/board member Gary Krantz.

Jennifer Ryan is a devotee of Air America. She writes:

“I would like to add something to the story reported out of Time Magazine regarding radio’s Air America. I personally purchased satellite (in my case Sirius) specifically to receive Air America and other leftwing talk shows such as Thomas Hartmann. I do not believe I am the only one in America to do so. Through satellite radio I can also listen to the BBC, PRI World, a half a dozen intelligent analytic programs produced by NPR and PRI (Diane Rehm is one) that are unavailable on regular radio. The world is changing and it is necessary to make financial choices to reflect that. I did the same with satellite television and have had the fortune of not having watched CNN (except the Capitol Gang — although that is now off my list too purely because of Margaret Carlson’s asinine denunciation of Michael Schiavo on last Saturday’s program!) since the day I put the dish on my roof. I believe the audience for alternative media is much much bigger than the MSM has yet comprehended.

“As I write this response to News Dissector on-line I am listening to `The World’ on PRI, having previously lsitened to Al Franken, while browsing DailyKos and editing the final cut of my 19th century biography on mercantilism. I can walk and chew gum at the same time too!”

HYPOCRISY IN MEDIA AWARD

Critic Jeff Cohen writes on CommonDreams:

“Putting aside your view of the Schiavo story, it’s clear that right-wing ‘pro-life’ protesters scored a media coup in terms of attention and coverage. On television, their voices and leaders have been front and center in the story and their acts of civil disobedience have been widely broadcast. Their presence has been used as a backdrop for the TV theater.

“Segments have often opened with on-the-scene reporters assessing the mood of the protesters, whether ‘hopeful’ or ‘agitated’ or ‘angry.’ At times, TV correspondents have seemed to be embedded with the protesters.

“The good news is: Despite polls showing that the American people are overwhelmingly on the side of Terri Schiavo’s husband, TV has nevertheless given sympathetic (and unprecedented) attention to the views of street demonstrators, even civil disobedients, representing a distinct minority of the public.

“The bad news is: For decades, such coverage has not been afforded to progressive demonstrators.”

PROFILE OF THE PRESIDENT OF FOX

Arkansasbusiness.com Daily Report carries an interesting profile of Fox Television Network President Ed Wilson. Speaking to the Little Rock Rotary Club, he discussed meeting with former President Bill Clinton about developing Clinton’s own syndicated talk show.

“For the good of the state and for the country, we decided not to go forward,” Wilson joked to the group meeting at the DoubleTree Hotel in Little Rock…

“But despite rubbing elbows with the likes of News Corp. mogul Rupert Murdoch and marrying the sister of CNN news anchor Paula Zahn, Wilson told Rotarians that television is just like any other business. And as such, it faces new challenges every day.”

RUSSIANS MAD AT SWEDES

EJC carries this IFEX release:

“The Russian Foreign Ministry has strongly criticized Swedish authorities and media for independent news reporting on the conflict in Chechnya, claiming the information was fomenting violence. The Russian embassy in Stockholm criticized the independent Swedish news agency TT on 23 March for publishing an interview with Chechen rebel leader Shamil Basayev on March 21. It claimed the agency was partly responsible for a Russian diplomat’s car being set ablaze the next day. The diplomatic row erupted as Moscow intensifies its effort to prevent European media from publishing or broadcasting independent news about the conflict in Chechnya.”

http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/65570/