I have to say right up front that I really hate this. I’ve been opposed to Examiner.com’s “Cutco” method of paying good writers next to nothing, and now, according to MediaPost and Poynter.org, a media giant has given the disreputable content employer yet another financial boost. To make it even worse, the news group has allegedly “bought” positive news coverage with ad dollars. For a reputable news organization to resort to this disreputable behavior and to do it by teaming up with a media organization that pays writers appallingly-low wages is unconscionable.
MediaPost has recently reported that Scripp’s HGTV is paying Examiner.com local “Examiners” by buying advertising on Examiner pages. I actually found the story on Poynter.org. In return these Examiners are being encouraged by their employer to write positive info about HGTV. According to MediaPost, the plan resulted in hundreds of Examiner.com articles and lots of social media traffic about HGTV. So, now writers are not only making a pittance but they’re selling their souls to do it.
Are you as appalled as I am? Examiner.com has angered me from the get go. I have a good friend who is an Examiner, in a town that I never visit and have no interest in. She asks me to read her posts so she can make her penny a view. (I heard that it’s now gone down to 75 cents per view, but that hasn’t been confirmed by Examiner.com.) I won’t do it. That’s what I mean by Cutco method. Ask writers to write, and make their friends earn their keep. Not so nice. Now this latest lack of ethics really takes the cake. Scripps, what were you thinking?
