Article
Miles Franklin award-winning novelist Anna Funder hits out at media companies
ABC
Miles Franklin Award-winning novelist Anna Funder is fed up with wealthy media companies expecting her to work for nothing.
“They just think somehow that exposure is a good thing in itself, as if you are running some sort of porn site – where in that case exposure might be a good thing in itself – but it’s not for me,” she told Australia’s first national writers’ congress.
“That’s a very quick race to the bottom.”
Ms Funder said vast fortunes are being made on the internet by companies on-selling data rather than paying for content.
“The thing that affects me is people constantly asking me to do things for free,” she said.
“Major world newspapers will ask you to write for them. They don’t even apologise for not offering to pay you any more.”