Below is a commentary my friend Jules Older wrote for Vermont Public Radio. My family met Jules through his wife, Effin, who is a photographer and was working for the Globe at the time. It’s not mundane or pointless, but just a special alert to freelancers. Below is Jules’s commentary, which he forwarded to all of us and encouraged us to send and forward to as many people as possible. Euty and Uncle, feel free to send this to the Pit if you guys think it belongs there.
When Writers Fight
Announcer: When writers fight with publishers, they not only fight with words, they fight about words. They¹re fighting now, and Jules Older is about to tell us all about it.
The streets of Boston are running red with blood.
Well, that¹s how a fiction writer might describe it, but it would be more accurate to say the newspapers and websites of Boston, not the streets. And maybe black with pixels and ink, not red with blood.
Whatever. There’s a writer¹s fight going down in old Boston town that has echoes of the tea party held there so long ago. This time, it¹s not between the British and a scruffy bunch of rebels; it¹s between the Boston Globe and a scruffy bunch of freelance writers, shooters and illustrators.
The earlier fight was about taxation without representation. This one¹s about hmmmŠ this one¹s about the rich stealing from the poor. Oh, maybe that¹s not fair. The Globe (and more particularly, its parent company, the New York Times), sees it as an opportunity to “stay nimble” in the electronic age.
Whatever. Whatever you call it, the Globe is trying to impose a new contract on its freelance writers, photographers and graphic artists, all groups not exactly known for resplendent living. The contract demands virtually all rights for pictures and stories yet unpublished and retroactively grabs those same rights for stuff they¹ve published over the past 20 years or more.
What that means for writers is this: If you¹ve, say, written, a column for the Globe and some big movie company decides to make a film of it, the Globe collects the $200,000 and gets to pass Go. The writer getsŠ nothing. Nada. Zip.
But like the Montgomery bus strike, like the Stonewall riot, like the Women¹s March on Washington, this time the writers and photographers and artists aren’t taking it lying down. They aren’t taking it at all. Many of them are refusing to sign away their rights. They won’t write and shoot and draw on Maggie¹s Farm no more.
And they¹ve gone one more step. They’re suing. Here¹s how they describe their action:
The lawsuit was filed after the Globe attempted to coerce writers, illustrators and photographers into signing an unfair contract which demands all rights in all mediums to all past, present, and future creative works by freelance contributors. The Globe informed freelancers that they would never be hired again unless they agreed to the paper’s demands, which include granting the Globe rights to re-publish in all mediums–including the Internet–articles, photographs and illustrations that were previously sold to the paper, for no additional compensation.
One of the Globe¹s best-known essayists is Lisa Weltner, whose column, “Be It Ever So Humble,” has run for nearly 20 years. No longer. Here’s Lisa Weltner on why.
I refused to sign a contract which demanded that I hand over to the Globe - for no compensation whatsoever - all rights to 20 years of my columns so that they could be reprinted or sold by the Globe. The newspaper therefore informed freelancers that none of us would continue to work for the Globe unless we signed.
Gandhi said the basic principle of non-violent resistance is not to participate in one’s own subjugation. The Globe wants freelancers to consent to the legal theft of their intellectual property and my conscience simply refused to go along. I would love to continue my ongoing conversation with my readers, but the price was too high.
That was Lisa Weltner. As for me, I haven’t written for the Globe for years, but I too agreed not to sign their contract. If I’m gonna go broke, it¹s gonna be on my terms, not while making the already rich even richer. No taxation without representation. No helping the rich steal from the poor. No participation in my own subjugation.
Break out the tea, gang. There¹s another party goin¹ down in Boston town.
This is Jules Older in Albany town, the Soul of the Kingdom.
ANNOUNCER: Jules Older’s latest kid’s book is TELLING TIME.