Bay Area Writers
National Writers Union
National Writers Union Local 3
San Francisco Bay Area
209 Golden Gate Ave, San Francisco, CA 94102
415/252-9876 Fax: 415/252-9878
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Sept. 15, 1994
Dear Fellow Writer,
After several months of investigation and discussion, the Local 3
Journalism Campaign has launched a unique project to organize
writers around the urgent issue of "information superhighway
robbery." Over the summer, about 50 Local members -- including Alice
Walker, Nicholson Baker, Isabel Allende, and Jessica Mitford -- were
alerted to the fact that magazine articles, short stories, and in a couple
of cases even poems of theirs were being distributed online and via fax
for a fee by the Internet service Magazine Index, which is owned by the
Foster City-based Information Access Company, a division of giant Ziff
Communications. On behalf of these writers, a September 9 letter from
Local co- chairs Brad Cleveland and Kevin Hampton put the database
operator on notice about a practice that we think is blatant copyright
infringement. News about <Operation Magazine Index> has already hit
the pages of <New York Magazine.> Nicholson Baker is quoted, and
the piece also makes reference to Walker, Allende,Mitford and the "44
other well-known writers" who are NWU members.
The next Journalists' Gathering will be on October 17th at 7:30 p.m. at
the City College Downtown Campus, Rm. 322, 800 Mission St. (at 4th,
one block from Powell St. BART). Topic: Self-syndication. Speaker: Joel
Simon, ace foreign correspondent. For further information, call the
NWU office at 415/252-9876.
Dinner '94: Our annual Local 3 Dinner will be at the noisy, newsy,
boozy, and fun Cadillac Bar in San Francisco on Saturday, October 29.
Executive Director Maria Pallante and other glamorous folks will be
there. For details check out the enclosed flyer or call the NWU office at
415/252-9876.
Maria will be taking a break from our national office in New York and
visiting the Bay Areafor a week. She'll be warming up for her dinner
address by doing a seminar for lawyers -- "Copyright Issues in the
Electronic Age" -- at Golden Gate University. If you know a lawyer who
might be interested in the seminar, please call the office for more
information, 415/252-9876.
After checking in with the Santa Cruz and L.A. locals, she'll return for
a panel on "Careers in Publishing," at the S.F. Learning Annex on Nov.
2. The cost is $39; call the Learning Annex for details -- 415/788-5500.
On Thursday, Nov. 3, Maria has put together a special seminar for
NWU members -- <Book Contracts: Everything a Writer Must Know
Before Signing on the Dotted Line.> For a lousy $5 members will also
get the new and improved NWU Guide to Book Contracts. Can't beat
that deal. Non-members don't get the deal, but they can attend for
$20 -- the privileges of membership.
Finally, Maria will be attending the San Francisco Book Festival on
Saturday, Nov. 5, to participate on another panel, "Negotiating a
Publishing Contract in the '90s." Maria will be joined by writer, lawyer,
and NWU member Brad Bunin. The panel will cost you $20; call
415/861-BOOK to reserve.
The union will be hanging out all weekend long at the Book Festival.
Please join us at our table, spend a few hours schmoozing with the
literati, checking out the books and readings. Let Ricky know if you can
help out on either Saturday or Sunday, Nov. 5 or 6, by calling the office,
415/252-9876.
GRIEVANCE NEWS: The August 3 training for new Grievance
Officers led by Local 3 GO Helena Worthen has already bred success.
New grievance handler Robin Solit knew how to handle Ten Speed
Press, which had sat on a book submitted for republication for two
years without responding to the author's repeated requests for its
return. Robin held a sit-in at the Ten Speed offices until the editor
complied. Robin, incidentally, just won the Spirit of Newport Writing
Contest and will receive free tuition at the Newport Writers
Conference later this month, along with a cash prize. She's also a
finalist for a $7,500 prize to be awarded by the Pirates Alley Faulkner
Society of New Orleans.
New grievance handlers Steve Joiner and Cem Kaner are also at work
on their first grievances. Other new GO's will be handling grievances
as they come in, so don't hesitate to call the union for help. You must
be an NWU member to use our grievance services.
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National Writers Union | Bay Area, Local 3
UAW Local 1981, AFL/CIO |
| 209 Golden Gate Avenue
873 Broadway, #203 | San Francisco CA 94102
New York NY 10003 |
| 415/252-9876
212/254-0279 | 415/252-9878 fax
212/254-0673 fax |
| bclev...@igc.apc.org
n...@netcom.com | kham...@netcom.com
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Ken Creffield
bclev...@igc.apc.org "National Writers Union" writes:
> After several months of investigation and discussion, the Local 3
> Journalism Campaign has launched a unique project to organize
> writers around the urgent issue of "information superhighway
> robbery." Over the summer, about 50 Local members -- including Alice
What's the "unique project"? Can anyone join? How serious was the
copyright infringement? Has the practice stopped? What exactly was the
practice? What does Ziff say? Have the writers been compensated?