Daily Kos passes the hat for its bloggers
We probably have all heard of the Daily Kos “fellows” program, where six people were given “prizes” (their attorney’s word; it allowed avoidance of progressive concepts like employer responsibilities, shielded liability, etc.). But in each case, the individual had something else to do other than blog: two were writing books ostensibly to be published by Moulitsas’s publishing arm, one was writing software for Daily Kos, another organizing the Yearly Kos convention. So we still hadn’t gotten to pure blog-for-pay, although the air was thick with envy.
Months before that, pyjamas media was formed, supposedly with a few $million in venture capital. This rightwing organization sprang from a blog called Little Green Footballs, and in some ways it too blurs the lines, along with the left’s Huffington Post, of blogging, PACs, and Salon/Slate-style online journalism. So these moves may have been an effort to “keep up with the Joneses.”
But here we are and there’s now a pledge drive underway to give one of the most beloved of Kos regulars an annual “gift” of $50,000 just to sit and blog. The faithful are arguing that the master snarker is worth that, and certainly if the estimated salaries, and observed and delivered output of some of the other “fellows” are used as the yardstick, I can’t argue. But while such a salary may be available via charity bakesales, I doubt very highly that the market would be as generous: an independent blog devoted to the exact same material with the exact same readers would not net a quarter of that figure per annum in advertising.
But it gets worse: now we have a proposal, which Moulitsas has given his imprimatur, to bring micropayments to blog-for-pay. The long Daily Kos tradition of “tip jars” to be filled with “mojo” would now be replaced by actual collection plates to be filled by the toney, leafy suburban Koswhack with authentic US currency.
Go to original by peeder on PoliticalFleshFeast
