Full Text of my Mediaite Contributor Email
(For the sake of transparency, and because there seems to be some confusion)
Hi all,
As some of you know, I have been working with NBC’s Dan Abrams on Mediaite.com, a new media site set to launch in the next few weeks. It will be a one-stop shop for pretty much everything of and about the media, with a lot of attitude - news and headlines (and opinionated takes on same), interviews and commentary, multi-media elements, recurring web-TV shows, a job board that will help media folks find new careers, a power grid which ranks the top people in media, and some other cool buzzy features with variations on head-to-head media combat. As you can imagine, we are having a LOT of fun with it.
We will also have columns and contributors, and that is where you come in. We want Mediaite to be a platform for great, smart takes on media, and are establishing a community of columnists and contributors to that end. We’re looking to to develop a number of great, regular paid columns and intend to have a number of paid contributors on the masthead as we grow. We are still in start-up mode so compensation issues are still being hammered out, but our goal is to develop smart column/feature ideas with our contributors. We believe in strong, smart ideas executed well — and we plan to pitch those ideas to advertisers accordingly.
What does this mean for you? Well, our goal is to develop these ideas, and eventually to pay certain top contributors a revenue share and/or stipend. This will probably be at least a few months down the road, but we want to make our intentions clear from the outset. We think this will be a win-win on both sides: we provide the platform, editorial support and ad sales efforts; you provide the smart and innovative content. We are still in the very early stages, but we are fairly confident that some great, highly clickable features will come from this, and we think this is a terrific way to provide incentive beyond visibility, working with great editors and being part of an awesome new start-up site.
So! What now? How’s this: Please (a) email me back and let me know if you’re interested; (b) provide a short paragraph on your experience and/or hidden skill set, and areas of interest; and, if inspiration strikes, (c) your idea for a media-related column/feature. We’ll bat the idea around a bit, come up with the strongest configuration, and then…we’ll start! I’ve included a few helpful guidelines below.
We’d love to have you on board as a contributor to Mediaite - we’re so excited about the site and we think it’s going to be huge. (We may be biased, but we still think so.) We hope you are, too - if so, get in touch! Looking forward to discussing the potential.
Best,
Rachel (on behalf of the whole Mediaite team)
COLUMNIST/CONTRIBUTOR GUIDELINES
1. Please send us a clear and/or croppable headshot, and a short 1-paragraph bio. The bio can link out to a web page, YouTube channel, Twitter account etc.; please provide the HTML if possible. Also please provide a phone number (for office use only) so we can reach you.
2. Ideal column length is 500-700 words; feel free to err on the side of brevity. Feel free to think beyond the traditional op-ed; photo essays and/or slideshows, lists, charts, short/clear videos and more creative options work too. Just touch base on them first to be sure we can support it technically.
3. Feel free to express any opinion, however unpopular; however, you must be able to support your arguments with linkable facts and/or original, verifiable reporting. We need to give the reader enough information to intelligently disagree with you; you need to be able to demonstrate to your critics why you are totally right and they are idiots.
4. Please remember to HEADLINE your post. Please also designate which section it belongs in: TV, Online, or Print.
5. Editing: Please proof-read and spell-check your post before you send it in. We will proof and copyedit and, to the extent that minor stylistic changes and corrections are made, we will post it directly. To the extent that larger edits are made to structure or style, or if we need more information, we will send the edit back to you indicating what else is needed. The goal is to put our heads together to make your post as complete and effective as possible.
6. Please send us the post WITH HTML already in place. If you don’t know what HTML is - that’s the code allowing for hyperlinks and style elements like italicizing etc. We recommend opening up an account at Blogger.com or Tumblr.com to figure it out. (It’s no harder than Microsoft Word. The first post will get you up the learning curve in no time.)
7. It goes without saying that the work should be your own. Still, we’re saying it because it’s easy to accidentally copy and paste. For video submissions, please refresh yourselves on fair-use guidelines if using copyrighted images. Upshot: Be extra-sure to attribute all the words and/or images that are not yours. (“Hat-tips” to where you heard of something are good form, too. Links are the currency of the Internet.)
8. Mediaite reserves the right to pull a post that is in dispute for reasons including but not limited to accuracy and/or attribution. We’ll always get in touch with you immediately and do our best to make sure you are in the loop every step of the way, but where we can’t make contact or verify the work we reserve the right to pull it down - for everyone’s protection. We’ll never pull a post because we don’t agree with you. Why? See # 3.
9. NB: #3 effectively precludes racist, sexist, homophobic, anti-Semitic or otherwise unsupportable/repugnant views. Provable arguments mean rational, sane thought. Since you are all sane, rational people we’re not that worried, but it must be said.
10. You need not “pitch” ideas before writing but you are welcome to; our team is pretty smart, and pretty immersed in media. Odds are we’ll be able to help you shape, expand and/or buttress your post, and we are happy to do so. However, we cannot provide research support.
11. We are happy to cross-post material from your website or another source, provided you have the rights to do so. If you wish to respond to reader comments, you may submit one “Update” to the post. Two is pushing it, especially since you adhered so strictly to #3. We’d rather you just attack the person on Twitter.
12. We are also happy to promote your post - send it out to other websites, on Twitter, etc., and will do our best to feature it prominently on our pages. We’re excited to have you and we want the world to know!
13. You retain all the rights to your work. In the event that we enter into a revenue-share or some other financial deal, we reserve the right to negotiate the terms on a case-by-case basis.
14. Welcome to Mediaite!
