back to article HuffPo goes UK: But shills and pols writing for free isn't new

So HuffPo UK has launched and, my word, it is the future of journalism, isn't it? New, fresh faces telling us about the world in new and interesting ways... Online, centre left, news and views galore: sounds like the Guardian's Comment is Free really, doesn't it? Which is something the Guardian themselves might agree with, you …

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  1. Pete 2 Silver badge

    Just like talk shows

    You know that every "guest" who appears is pushing some agenda. They've got a book out, they are starring in a new TV series, they are trying to get back after a scandal/child/dry period, or have a new business venture they NEED to tell everybody about. We're prepared to put up with the endless and thinly veiled promotions provided they entertain us.

    Maybe a better question to ask about the Puffington would be: who's willing to pay to READ it?

    1. graeme leggett Silver badge

      presumably they're cheaper

      They want to get their face on the screen to push the product, TV execs want them on the screen to pull in viewers.

      Pehaps they are prepared to take a reduced appearance fee - though if they are all at it what is the usual fee?

      1. Tim Worstal

        Depends.....

        BBC can usually be relied upon for something: £50 if you're on the radio sort of thing.

        Commercial TV often doesn't pay: CNN won't even cover a tube ticket let along a taxi to get to the studio. Sky might pay £50 for doing the newspaper review (which is a proper piece of work, not just a talking heads section).

        A couple of years back Press TV paid better than most. But that was because they had such a hard time getting guests....

  2. The Cube
    Stop

    What about the symmetry?

    Your excellent article on how few of the "contributors" got paid misses the symmetry, the content is pure advertising and also fails the test "would any reader actually pay for the publication". This is the delightful symmetry of pollution like the Guffington Post, just like sewerage, nobody would pay to receive it and nobody is paid to create it (ignoring Endemol productions of course).

    I'd rather we kept the bandwidth for porn than this useless crap.

  3. ColonelClaw
    Mushroom

    ...It all becomes clear

    Bit of a coincidence that the biggest story of the year breaks at exactly the time the UK Huff launches, eh?

    To be more serious for a moment, they probably can't believe their luck at the timing of it all.

  4. Andrew Moore
    Thumb Down

    Isn't this the site that screwed over all it's regular writers?

    when it sold out to AOL???

    I'm amazed it's still going.

  5. Dibbles

    Title

    "Roy Greenslade writes for a living and yes, he would be paid elsewhere in print"

    Yes, he is, but when you read his musings you really do wonder why...

    1. Marvin the Martian

      "no, not being sarky, just realistic"

      As if these are exclusive in any way... He meant "Yes, yes being sarky, and realistic".

  6. Magnus Ramage
    FAIL

    Other reasons not to read HuffPo UK...

    Well I tried HuffPo UK on launch day. The payment or otherwise of contributors is besides the point. The format of the site just looks so dreadful - so obviously an American service. Reading it talking about British news felt just wrong. It's as if USA Today tried to launch "UK Today" but keep the writing style and format. The style (just) works for American news, but simply fails over here.

    (Several below-the-line contributors to the Guardian's discussion of the launch said something similar to this, so I'm not wholly alone.)

  7. Ian Yates
    Pint

    Tim

    Do you need us to buy you a pint?

    1. Tim Worstal

      "Need"?

      No, but always up for a pint.

      Do you deliver to Portugal?

  8. jake Silver badge

    I've said it before ...

    ... and I'll say it again: Journalism died with Herb Caen and Stanton Delaplane.

    1. TeeCee Gold badge
      WTF?

      Re: I've said it before ...

      Who and who?

      First time I've ever seen names quoted as if they should be famous when I have never even heard or seen the names used anywhere before!

      1. jake Silver badge

        @TeeCee

        I'm terribly sorry for your lack of education.

        Do you know why you should understand how to vote?

        1. JesterMedia

          San Francisco - yes, UK - no

          If TeeCee lived in SanFrancisco this comment might be applicable. Sure, they were Pulitzer Prize winners but how relevant is that and their near rabid focus on San Francisco life of any relevance to a UK audience? Your pomposity is undeserved.....

          1. jake Silver badge

            @JesterMedia

            You don't get it, either, do you? It ain't about home-base, it's about expressing yourself in print.

            Besides, Stan hardly focused on San Francisco ... any more than "Pat Novak for Hire" was actually about San Francisco's waterfront.

            "She drifted into the room, like 98 pounds of warm smoke ... "

            1. JesterMedia

              Home-base - or B&Q? Or is this too parochially British....?

              Oh, but it is about 'home-base' if you denigrate someone's lack of education for never having heard of someone that there is no reason at all for them to have encountered. I could reel off countless examples of people, companies, places and so on that most people in the UK would know instantly. Would that make you uneducated for not knowing who the hell I was talking about?

              1. jake Silver badge

                @JesterMedia

                Try me.

                Exceptions: Boy/Girl flash-in-the-pan "entertainer" o't'day, including "page 3 girls", footballers and their wives, and the like.

                Hint: I don't frequent "big box stores" like Home Depot (or Block & Quayle).

                1. JesterMedia
                  Trollface

                  i'n't th'Interweb lovely.....

                  Yay, congratulation on your stunning use of Wikipedia.....

                  1. jake Silver badge

                    @JesterMedia

                    I rarely use Wikipedia, and didn't in this case.

                    Projection can be an ugly thing ...

  9. SeanEllis
    Black Helicopters

    HuffPo - Home of Woo

    The US version of the Huffington Post is the home of all sorts of alternative medicine stories, most reported credulously and some of them downright dangerous. One example is their pushing of the anti-vaccination agenda. It will be interesting to see if the same thing happens here, and who will be prepared to write for it.

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    talking of shills

    ...

    [obligatory letters here]

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