CC News: CNN To Pay Freelancers Net-90
Content creators, if you haven’t been keeping up with the headlines, here’s some news you may have missed:
Toothpaste Prank Gets YouTuber 1+ Year Sentence
Spanish YouTuber Kanguhua Ren, aka ReSet, posted a video where he gave a homeless man an Oreo cookie filled with toothpaste.
It may have been funny to him at the time, but he probably isn’t laughing now.
A Barcelona judge sentenced Ren to 15 months in prison.
The charge: violating the man’s moral integrity.
According to Fox News, Ren isn’t likely to do the jail time because Spanish law tends to waive sentences for first-time offenders of non-violent crimes.
However, ReSet reportedly made $2,475 from advertisements on the toothpaste prank video, but the judge ordered him to pay the victim $22,300.
And to prevent business as usual, the judge also ordered Ren to shut down his YouTube and social media accounts for five years.
In the video, which has been deleted, Ren gave the homeless man the cookie and 20 euros.
The man vomited.
“But look at the positive side; this will help him clean his teeth,” ReSet said. “I think he hasn’t cleaned them since he became poor.”
Ren visited the man twice after that– once to give him 20 more euros and once to offer 300 euros so his daughter wouldn’t file a lawsuit.
Ren attempted to defend the videos in court, telling the judge, “I do things to mount a show: People like what is morbid.”
On Sunday, Ren issued a statement saying, “Do not believe everything the newspapers say. They’re not completely wrong but they make things up to make people (in this case, me) look bad.”
His YouTube channel hasn’t been deleted yet, and in this video (Spanish) posted Jun 2, he says he’ll address the issue in 3 or 4 days.
CNN to Pay Freelancers Quarterly
CNN is reportedly preparing to change its freelance payment terms from Net-30 to Net-90.
Yes, that means every 90 days. As in CNN will only pay its freelancers four times per year.
In 2019, those terms are absolutely absurd. But don’t take my word for it, look how people reacted on Twitter:
No cable provider is going to accept Net 90 day terms from their subscribers, so @CNN should get a goddamn grip and pay promptly for the work of its contributors.
— MagicMan (@MagicMan247) May 30, 2019
#CNN wants its freelancers to shoulder the cost of the corporate cash flow by going from the standard NET-30 to NET-90. Again, we are camera ops, CG OPS, video editors, satellite engineers, We are NOT your licensed banking institution with billions in assets. #FuckCNN https://t.co/vpwgzTWsYH
— MarcusPun (@MarcusPun) May 29, 2019
This is not acceptable, @CNN. Freelance isn’t free — we deserve to pay our bills just as much as regular employees do. Not to mention Net 90 is illegal in NYC — as it should be everywhere. https://t.co/SU4KLl6PSE
— Erin Marie Miller (@ErinMMiller_) May 30, 2019
“Net 90 is NOT a reasonable payment term for people who must pay rent every 30 days. And in NYC, CNN’s new policy challenges the Freelance Isn’t Free law, which set a 30-day standard for payment and protects freelancers from accepting reduced rates in order to receive faster payment,” wrote Caitlin Pearce at FreelancersUnion.org.
The Reason for CNN Net-90?
A letter WarnerMedia sent the freelancers says, “We are making this change to be better aligned with our corporate requirements.”
The document also states that CNN is working with Citi to provide a financing tool. “This program will provide you with a process to get paid faster than 90 days,” it explains.
The question freelancers should be asking is why CNN can’t pay faster than 90 days.
When a company needs that much time to cover its invoices, that’s a red flag.
As I see it, the only way delaying payments aligns with corporate requirements is if CNN is having, or trying to avoid having, cash flow problems.
CNN’s Net-90 payment policy is set to begin taking effect on June 17. But that’s not the only indication that the network has the hawk-eye on its dollars.
*Last month, CNN offered voluntary buyouts that will rid the network of over 100 employees who have been around for 10 years or more.
*CNN cut staff from it health journalism unit, a move that it said would only affect up to 7 people.
*The network plans to move most of the live production for CNN International from London to Atlanta. The affected staffers will allegedly be “reassigned,” which in many cases means they’ll have to move to another country.
*And after that consolidation, instead of CNN International continuing its programming, it’ll run an increased amount of material from CNN US and the Abu Dhabi division.
And, “There are all kinds of rumors about impending layoffs. Some think they will come this summer. Others say a big layoff won’t happen until after the election. All agree layoffs are coming, though,” a senior producer told Hollywood Reporter.
So freelancers, if you’re dealing with CNN or you’re planning to, proceed with these things in mind. And stay focused on your paper.
