Let’s strengthen our local media ecosystem

Our colleagues at HuffPost Hawaii are recruiting bloggers to write on a new website. The interest from AOL (owner of the Huffington Post) in the Hawaii market is recognition of the relevance of our local community, the importance of local voices, and the viability of local advertising.

Our intellect and ideas, however, are valuable. Although it’s a $2.9 billion company, AOL’s policy is to not pay Huffington Post bloggers. In addition, AOL is claiming an irrevocable license to content written for HuffPost Hawaii, and the rights to redistribute that content without compensation to the original writer. For some, it’s worth the pageviews and attention to accept this deal. For others, there’s an alternative.

A cooperative blog network

The Independent is developing a cooperative network of local bloggers. In this network, the Independent will sell ads on your blog (which could be hosted at the Independent, or on a separate site altogether), and we will fairly share revenue with all bloggers based on audience and reach. The Independent will aggressively link to and promote your work. And perhaps most importantly, your voice will remain yours: we won’t claim any rights to your content.

Interested? Get in touch.