Pay for content bloggers must disclose...

It should have been this way all along

from JoeUser Forums

Interesting article I picked up over on IWon.com, originally from AP news. I'll have a little of the original material snipped in the comments area below, but am using the space here, above the fold so to say, to question why the new policy even had to be created, clarified, or otherwise enacted?

Meaning, I don't understand why the originization referred to in the article found here: Bloggers Must Disclose Sponsored Posts wasn't requiring full disclosure from day one?! It seems like a common sense thing to me. Someone paid to post should absolutely 'fess up right away and let the world know that they are basically reading a paid advertisement or otherwise blatant propaganda that has at a minimum been influenced by payment for the article, or by exchange of goods for services rendered (the writing of the article/content on a blog).

I know we continue to live in a world that has banned payola, but in which it still happens in the radio business.  We continue to have "journalists" provide articles and content to support political policies, candidates and programs,  but it really shouldn't be this way.  People should be honest with their audiences and tell them up front when they are being influenced by money.

Sadly it seems that if left to their own, many people will never tell the audience that they have a stake in a product or service (or anything else) that they talk about.  Sorry, that will never happen here.  If you read something I've written I'll tell you when I have any stake in product, service, company, etc.  For the most part, if you read something I've written, you are reading my own thoughts and comments, and about my own personal experiences or those of people I know directly (outside of news articles I may write and comment about, or political issues and such).

As much as I might like the thought of getting free copies of games I may review, it just doesn't happen.  I don't have the connections to get them, nor would I really want them.  If I was getting freebies, I'd constantly be second guessing myself about just how fair I was or just how harsh I was in my comments.  I don't need that weighing on the back of my mind as I put up my own view of things.  I'd rather go through a regular everyday experience in buying, renting, or borrowing an item from a friend, using it, and then leaving my thoughts about it for others to see.  At least then I can feel like I'll be keeping myself honest in my writing.

 

See a few clips from the original article quoted in the comments area.  Happy reading.

blogging
1,506 views 4 replies
Reply #1 from JoeUser Forums Top
Clips from original article:
A company that helps advertisers connect with bloggers willing to write about their products for payment will now require disclosures amid criticism and a regulatory threat.

Before this week, advertisers were barred by PayPerPost Inc. from telling bloggers they can't disclose the sponsorship, but bloggers were able to decide on their own whether or not to do so. Under the new policy, bloggers must disclose that they are accepting payment, either in the write-up or in a general disclosure policy on the blogger's Web journal.

"Ever since we launched, there's been a lot of controversy about disclosure," said Ted Murphy, PayPerPost's chief executive.

Besides other bloggers questioning the ethics of receiving payments without disclosure, the Federal Trade Commission said in a Dec. 7 staff opinion that failure to disclose could, in some cases, violate consumer-protection laws on deception. The FTC did not single out PayPerPost or say whether it would launch any investigation.

Reply #2 from JoeUser Forums Top

I agree and I disagree.  How is that for a definite maybe?

I think that all paid bloggers should disclose their financial link - by their own admission.  But that it should not be legislated.  It is a matter of ethics.  If I choose to accept money to promote and widget, and do not disclose that I have, then all my writing becomes suspect, and I have basically ruined my reputation.  That should be the penalty for non-disclosure.

Galactic Civilizations III
Reply #3 from JoeUser Forums Top

and do not disclose that I have, then all my writing becomes suspect, and I have basically ruined my reputation. That should be the penalty for non-disclosure.

But how does anyone else then know to suspect your writing?

Reply #4 from JoeUser Forums Top

But how does anyone else then know to suspect your writing?

Blogdom will expose you, as they do others in the MSM.