Pay the Talent? Sorry, Suckas, That’s Not the HuffPo Financial Model

Simon Dumenco writes:

It wouldn’t have cost Lerer anything to make some vague utterances about "eventual" profit sharing or stock options or page-view bonuses or some such. Instead, in a moment of delusional grandeur, he chose to announce that his and Arianna’s celebrity-blogger serfs will always plow for free — in exchange for not even for a bit of gristle and cold porridge, but for the PR!

Excuse me?!? First of all, arguably, it’s the other way around: Despite Arianna’s cable-news omnipresence, it’s the excellent work of such regular bloggers as Harry Shearer, Nora Ephron and Bill Maher that gave HuffPo visibility, promotion and distribution. They lent their credibility and influence — and their built-in audiences (Shearer with his radio show, Maher with his "Real Time" on HBO, Ephron with the fans of her books and movies) — to Arianna and Ken. And for what? Bupkis now — and bupkis forever! (Suckas!)

Second, the vast majority of the Huffington Post’s bloggers get virtually no significant visibility, promotion or distribution simply because there are so damn many of them — 1,800 at last count, which means that unless you’re one of Arianna’s favorites (and/or a scoop-slinging insider), you’re probably rarely going to get on the home page — and if you do, only fleetingly.

Third, the Huffington Post actually does pay some of its bloggers — the ones it has on staff, such as "Eat the Press" media editor/blogger Rachel Sklar — so the financial model is, well, what then? Pay some of the bloggers some of the time?