Huffpost UK will stop hosting bloggers who are “commercially invested” in their subject matters, editor Polly Curtis has said as part of a raft of changes to the website’s blogging sphere.
Curtis said in a blog post that as the media landscape had changed – becoming crowded in recent years with new platforms and social media channels – so to had Huffpost’s approach to blogging.
The news website has also said that, separately from the blogging platform, it will introduce paid columnists for the first time.
“Previously our focus has been on growing our network’s reach – now our priority is being a platform for voices that really add to the debate,” said Curtis (pictured).
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“Until now, we have vetted blogs for legal issues and very cursory editing and language changes.
“But now there are so many places people can write unedited on the internet, we feel that as editors we want to do both our bloggers and our readers justice and publish only the very best of the submissions.”
She said new guidelines mean the site will not publish blogs that “fail to meet an audience interest test as defined by our editors” and that they “have to be compelling, relevant to our readers and written from a point of experience”.
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Curtis added: “We are also re emphasising that we will not host bloggers who are commercially invested in what they are writing about, or those who use their access to the blogs to blag holidays or products.”
The changes come amid an announcement also made today from the US arm of the site that it would be shutting down its Opinion Bloggers program and launching a new opinion and personal section of the site.
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