Creators Federation’s President and Executive Director
Jonathan Tasini is the founder, president and executive director of the Creators Federation. Tasini first proposed such a Federation in the early 1990s, a concept that a number of organizations signed on to yet were unable to implement because of the lack of organizational resources. Tasini served as the president of the National Writers Union from 1990 to 2003 (he is still the NWU's president emeritus). During his tenure, he oversaw the rapid growth of the union. From 1990 to 2003, the union nearly tripled in size and its budget grew seven-fold to $1.7 million.

Tasini envisioned the importance of authors’ electronic rights in the digital age before it emerged broadly. In 1993, he initiated and was the lead plaintiff in the landmark lawsuit, Tasini v. The New York Times, alleging widespread copyright infringement by major media companies. On June 25th 2001, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, creating liabilities for the media industry and providing the basis for class action lawsuit that lead to a $18 million damages pool for freelance creators.

He developed innovative strategies to bring pressure to bear against media companies in the wake of landmark lawsuit victory, including a new class action lawsuit and a national pension fund campaign to highlight financial liabilities. He conceived of the freelance writer’s version of ASCAP—a licensing agency to authorize use of creators’ works, and track and pay royalties called the Publication Rights Clearinghouse (PRC).

He developed coalitions nationally and internationally. He and his Dutch counterpart (Dutch Journalists Union Executive Director Hans Verploeg) conceived of the 2000 Authors Summit in London. The Summit unified authors worldwide around a specific plan of action, including a campaign for collective bargaining rights for freelance creators where they don’t exist; a strategy for legal action to challenge violations of rights; international coordination of lobbying efforts particularly at WIPO; the creation of an international media database; and training materials for unions and for freelancers to improve the quality of bargaining (model contracts and negotiating skills).

He developed legislative strategy around numerous issues, including temporary employment, taxes, health care, anti-trust and collective bargaining. He is leading a lobbying effort in Congress for an anti-trust exemption for freelance creators.

He also negotiated landmark contracts, including reaching the first licensing deal with a commercial website (Contentville.com) in an agreement that paid authors a higher royalty fee than publishers (authors received 30 percent of all download fees, publishers received 25 percent).

He served as an Executive Board Member of the International Federation of Journalists, which represents around 450,000 members in more than 100 countries in Europe, Africa, Asia, Latin America, South American and the former Soviet Union. He was a member of the AFL-CIO Committee on Arts, Media and Entertainment of the AFL-CIO’s Department for Professional Employees; and a member of the International Technical, Office and Professional Advisory Council, United Auto Workers, which oversees all white-collar organizing in the UAW. He also was a member of the National Research Council’s Computer Science and Telecommunications Board’s joint industry-scientific-academic panel that issued the report, "The Digital Dilemma: Intellectual Property in the Information Age," which outlined policy recommendations for Congress. He was also named one of the Publishing Industry’s 40 Most Influential People in 2001 by Folio Magazine, the Magazine for Magazine Management.