As a participant in the Street Team project (I represented Tennessee), I am grateful to see this coverage of the negligent and irresponsible corporate practices by Viacom/MTV. I would just like to note the abundance of hard work and good faith effort that went into this project by the journalists in each state, as well as many staffers and producers at MTV News (many of whom were essentially "volunteering" their services by taking on the extra responsibility of acting as editorial advisors to the Street Team journalists). Many people worked incredibly hard for very modest pay because we believed in the mission of the project, citizen journalism, and the Knight Foundation. The inconsistent payment and the ambiguous (sometimes flippant) communication regarding the matter left me stunned at what poor stewards Viacom proved to be of the $700,000 grant they received from the Knight Foundation. They also managed to create a great many Anti-MTV/Viacom "ambassadors" among the Street Team journalists, some of whom are likely headed towards influential positions and careers within media and journalism. When will these suits ever learn that responsible, respectful, and ethical corporate practices are actually better for their bottom line in the long run?

Perhaps Viacom has been hoarding these freelancers' paychecks so they can manipulate their quarterly reports with the illusion of more cash assets on hand or less debt owed (our last round of back pay seemed to be mailed exactly one day after the third quarter ended.)