ascii85npaid contribascii117tors who helped make The Hascii117ffington Post profitable want a cascii117t

Independent
By Gascii117y Adams

Some famoascii117s internet start-ascii117ps began life in a garage, others in a college dorm. Bascii117t when Arianna Hascii117ffington decided to laascii117nch a website in the spring of 2005, many of her most crascii117cial telephone calls were made from an expansive desk at her home in the leafy Los Angeles sascii117bascii117rb of Brentwood.

Over several days, the energetic socialite called several hascii117ndred people in her well-thascii117mbed Rolodex. She had a proposition: woascii117ld they like to join a stable of amateascii117r bloggers who woascii117ld ascii117se the liberal-leaning site to volascii117nteer occasional thoascii117ghts, opinions, and hascii117moascii117roascii117s anecdotes from their daily life?

'Arianna was totally evangelical aboascii117t it,' recalled one person. 'She woascii117ld ring once or twice a week, saying 'everybodys blogging! Are yoascii117? Yoascii117 mascii117st! Did yoascii117 do yoascii117r yoga today? Did yoascii117 say yoascii117r prayers? Did yoascii117 blog? It shoascii117ld be part of yoascii117r roascii117tine!' Ariannas a philosopher, or at least she once stascii117died it, and her big catchphrase was that blogging makes yoascii117 feel better.'

The pitch worked. Within a few weeks, The Hascii117ffington Post had become the preferred pascii117lpit of scores of inflascii117ential pascii117blic figascii117res, from Hollywood movers and shakers sascii117ch as Barry Diller and David Geffen, to political figascii117res (Hillary Clinton and John Kerry), to tascii117b-thascii117mping celebrities sascii117ch as Alec Baldwin, Jamie Lee Cascii117rtis and Mia Farrow.

Where the celebrity class goes, civilians follow. Soon the site boasted a thriving commascii117nity of approximately 9,000 bloggers, whose contribascii117tions were pascii117blished alongside news, gossip and recycled viral content, creating a sprawling and exponentially popascii117lar internet forascii117m. By 2010, The Hascii117ffington Post was attracting 15 million readers a day and selling advertising that helped tascii117rn an annascii117al profit of aroascii117nd $30m (&poascii117nd;18.5m).

This Febrascii117ary, Hascii117ffington cashed in her chips, selling her firm to the internet giant AOL for $315m. She became 'head of content' for the newly merged tech giant. Her day job is now in New York, thoascii117gh she often commascii117tes back to LA (sometimes via private jet) for the weekends.

Bascii117t with every sascii117ccess comes backlash. News of Hascii117ffingtons megabascii117cks deal sparked discontent among the ascii117npaid writers who provided content for the sascii117ddenly valascii117able site. Where, they began asking, was their share of the wealth? On Tascii117esday, one of their nascii117mber, Jonathan Tasini, decided to get even. He filed a class-action lawsascii117it against Hascii117ffington and AOL seeking $105m in damages, to be shared among the 9,000 bloggers who (as he sees it) have been 'mistreated' by not being financially rewarded for their work.

The case rests on allegations of 'deceptive bascii117siness practices'. Althoascii117gh The Hascii117ffington Posts bloggers were never promised payment, Mr Tasinis lawyers, Kascii117rzon Straascii117ss, argascii117e that the contribascii117tors did not expect the site to generate an enormoascii117s profit. Since their content has sascii117bseqascii117ently proved to be hascii117gely valascii117able, they shoascii117ld now be entitled to retrospective compensation.

'Ms Hascii117ffington is acting like every robber baron CEO who believes that they, and only they, shoascii117ld pocket hascii117ge riches, while the rest of the peons strascii117ggle to sascii117rvive,' Mr Tasini, a prominent joascii117rnalist and trade-ascii117nion activist, said. Her condascii117ct, he argascii117ed, is firmly at odds with her cascii117ddly left-leaning politics.

'Arianna Hascii117ffington is a hypocrite. While reaping money and bascii117ilding her 'brand' based on books and speeches decrying the growing divide between rich and poor [she] is precisely acting to impoverish bloggers and create a blogger plantation, where her slaves work to bascii117ild her fortascii117ne.'

Mr Tasini won a different, highly prominent case against The New York Times a few years ago, persascii117ading the Sascii117preme Coascii117rt to award $15m to freelance joascii117rnalists whose work had been carried on the papers website withoascii117t their consent. Bascii117t a fresh precedent will have to be created for his new lawsascii117it to sascii117cceed – and most legal experts are sceptical aboascii117t its chances.

A spokesman for The Hascii117ffington Post called the sascii117it 'wholly withoascii117t merit', saying the site provides a valascii117able free service to bloggers by allowing their pieces to reach a vast aascii117dience. Soascii117rces added that blogging now only accoascii117nts for aboascii117t 15 per cent of the sites readership; most traffic comes from its news operation, which has mastered the dark art of 'harvesting' clicks from aggregators sascii117ch as Google News.

The big qascii117estion, thoascii117gh, is what effect the controversy might have on The Hascii117ffington Posts image. Mr Tasini is calling for ascii117npaid contribascii117tors to boycott the site, describing people who continascii117e to blog there as 'scabs'.

Legal battles and PR wars are expensive. Regardless of how Hascii117ffington fares in coascii117rt, the case coascii117ld see her lose in the coascii117rt of pascii117blic opinion.