Today’s New York Times Week in Review section had an interesting opinion by J. David Goodman. “New In Blogs, Product Placement” questions how a blog writer wrestles with how to make money, stay away from government regulations and remain independent and ornery. As a blog writer myself, I found his view of what we do very limited.
Are blog writers ornery?
I’m a professional blog writer. I take on writing for companies and am able to express careful opinions and still retain a sense of fun in my regular postings. Along the way, I’ve never felt ornery. But I’m not surprised that any newspaper writing about blog writers takes such a limited view of the field. They obviously consider the blog writer a direct threat to journalism.
I’d like to let J. know that we’re not all working without oversight from grungy trailer parks. J makes the comparison between the ethics of blog writers running amok and the more controlled, more professional newspaper writer whose prose must be reviewed. That review process certainly didn’t guarantee good coverage from traditional media journalist and icon Dan Rather. His use of forged documents in his biased 60 Minutes report targeting then-President Bush just before the 2004 election wasn’t checked over quite as carefully as it might have been. The newspapers like the New York Times, who jumped aboard the story and wrote thousands of words about it without fully vetting the sources, certainly didn’t have proper oversight either.
Blog writers are a threat to journalists
In fact, we’re a threat to many different entrenched businesses. Those of us who understand social media and write on behalf of marketers are a threat to lots of established institutions. We’ve embraced a new media that you haven’t. We’re on the train and you’re not; and the train has left the station.
In his opinion piece under the heading “Ethics,” J. cites a case in which a blog writer was paid by Absolut Vodka and didn’t properly disclose this to his audience. In another case which J cites, Ann Taylor Loft ran a promotion that subsequently was investigated by the Federal Trade Commission, who has oversight of the advertising business. Both are good cases of a business that’s finding its way. Blog writing is in its infancy. It is often a business of individuals. But the New York Times article, while trying to show the differences between ethical news writers and the unbridled blog writer, actually achieved something else altogether. It showed how little is understood about the business of writing for the Internet today. And it shows how we can’t look to traditional media to explain this new phenomenon to us.
Who sponsors the New York Times writers?
If journalists today actually want us to believe that they’re not influenced in their coverage of the companies (advertisers) who pay their mortgages, we’re not buying it. Take a look at the other pages of the very issue in which J writes his opinions about blog writers being sponsored. You’ll see large ads paid for by corporations. In the newspaper business, there is little to no separation of church and state.
It might be good to remember the Washington Post’s ill-fated plan to sell sponsorships of off-the-record “salons.” Article here >>
At this event, put on by the Washington Post, sponsors would pay a hefty fee to be guaranteed a seat beside lawmakers, policy experts, administration officials, think tank experts and the heads of associations.
The ethics issues were finally raised not by the Washington Post, but by Politico.com (A BLOG !! ). This was a clear case of influence peddling. Washington Post publisher Katharine Weymouth seemed to think the only offensive part of this mess was a flier which made it clear the Post was charging for access to its ‘health care reporting and editorial staff.’ It seems the OVERSIGHT was missing in this case. She claims she never saw the flier before it went out.
Blog writers are simply another option
I haven’t met any blog writers who think of themselves as doing away with traditional media. We’re simply another alternative. As the Internet continues to expand, you’ll see that the blog writer becomes a more important and more trusted source of news and opinion. And we’ll go through some of the same trials and tribulations as those who work for the old media.
Running into sponsorship issues in blog writing isn’t s sign that we’re somehow a lesser option for delivering news and opinion. It’s simply a sign we’ve arrived and we’re here to stay.
So much more than news
Ion Leap doesn’t write news. I do on occasion express opinions. By putting blog writers into the bucket of only news writing, traditional media is missing the point. The Internet makes all sorts of writing possible, much of it paying work. We don’t all work from home. We’re not all poor. We’re not all so desperate for sponsorship that we’ll corrupt our ethics at the first sign of a dollar.
Writing for the Internet is an open door. There are tons of opportunities. Writing for traditional outlets which rely primarily on dead trees to convey their prose is a quickly fading industry. Occasionally we’ll hear them gasping. Today’s article on the NY Times is a good example.
