Kerri Fivecoat-Campbell, who served for the past year as Freelance Committee Chair, spent time on the national board as a regional director and served the Kansas City Press Club pro chapter, has resigned from her committee position and renounced her membership in SPJ in the wake of the Faulkner v. National Geographic debacle.
Kerri worked tirelessly for freelancers and promoted SPJ to non-members at every turn. She repeatedly made the case for freelancers to join on forums, fighting against the perception that the organization is filled with newspaper staffers and PR flaks. She felt strongly that it was a good place where ALL freelancers could find support and camaraderie without going through a juried process found in other organizations.
As it turns out, the perception that SPJ does not care about freelancers is painfully apparent. Leadership of the organization is now in the hands of people who disdain independent journalists, indeed who are in management themselves. May their organization's ad revenue never fall short and may they never find themselves a freelancer one day as a result, fighting for the very rights they so freely gave away.
No comments:
Post a Comment