Huffington Post “fires” freelance labor journalist

Joe Pompeo of Yahoo News writes that Huffington Post has “fired” an unpaid labor reporter who blogs for its site, Mike Elk, for participating in a weekend labor event in Washington that he had obtained a press credential to cover.

Pompeo writes, “‘I’m sorry to say we are revoking your access to our blog and ending our association,’ Peter Goodman, HuffPo’s business editor, wrote to Elk in a Jan. 20 email obtained by The Cutline. ‘I appreciate that what happened yesterday was a poor decision on your part, one made on the spur of the moment, but it was simply over the line from an ethical standpoint and it would compromise our integrity to have you continue to write for us or represent us in any way.’

“Elk, who said he has contributed more than 100 posts since being recruited as a blogger in 2009 by the website’s national editor, Nico Pitney, sees it differently.

“‘I never lied to anybody at any step in this process,’ he told The Cutline on Friday. ‘There is a tradition in labor journalism to be active participant journalists,’ he added, citing Michael Moore, who also blogs for HuffPo. ‘This is a tactic union organizers use all the time.'”

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