A while ago we published a piece asking if AOL’s questionable new content strategy would be good news for freelancers, as their demand for more copy went up. It would seem yesterday those questions were answered with a resounding “No.”
Business Insider yesterday ran an email from one of the unlucky firees, detailing the torrid transition process that eventually led to their dismissal. It’s worth noting that at the moment there is only confirmation the freelancers in their business and finance division have been let go – however you could reasonably assume the same fate will befall all their freelancing staff. The anonymous sender of the email believes the freelancers will be replaced by cheaper, full-time employees -
“We will be replaced either by a handful of people Goodman has in mind, or with young, new (read cheap) writers who have yet to be hired.
“We’ve been told that all these new, full-time employees will be expected to report to the office every day for a 40-hour work week. For some reason, it’s very important to Arianna [Huffington] to have writers physically working in a newsroom in either LA, New York or Washington, DC, thus going back to an archaic newsroom model that went out with the invention of the telephone.”
They also lambast the transitional process, which has come about as a result of AOL purchasing the Huffington Post and putting it at the head of its content strategy -
“AOL managers have been kept in the dark and have not been made aware of the “new direction” they’ve been told to take. They basically have no idea as to who will be creating content for them, and what content is expected. [...] The entire transition process has been schizophrenic.”
Also a nice touch -
“The Huffington Post Transition team has just eliminated all AOL freelancers and contractors [...] But we have been invited to continue contributing for free.”
Arianna Huffington was famous for her use of unpaid contributors back when the Huffington Post was independent, however she was heavily criticised for receiving a $315million dollar buyout from AOL on the back of her unpaid writers’ work. It would seem her thirst for free content may have gone a little too far.
Is this new approach by AOL indicative of a new approach that will be taken by the media, or is it just the zany scheme of a power-crazed executive? Sacking experienced freelance writers and replacing them with cheap, full-time staff (as Business Insider’s email suggests) will certainly help the company’s bottom line, but could have a severe impact on quality. However with AOL openly favouring quantity and SEO-friendliness, it hardly comes as a surprise.
