What's the difference between an independent blogger and a reporter or bloviator for the mainstream media? It isn't education or training or writing ability. It's where your paycheck comes from.
People in mainstream media know their paychecks come from the publication or website. And so do their readers. Even though those publishers may be compromised by ad dollars or sponsorship fees, the writers are separated from such concerns at all but the tiniest outfits. The MSM model calls for maximizing readership by having the reporters write for the reader, without thinking about where the publication's revenues come from.
Bloggers' paychecks are seldom transparent. Even though most bloggers don't make a living at what they do, there is a temptation to search for perks. The Isthmus, an interesting alt weekly in Madison, Wisc., has a fascinating article on this subject related to blogging housewives. http://www.thedailypage.com/daily/article.php?article=27981 .
The article points out that many corporations showed up to hand out gifts at the "BlogHer" convention in Chicago last summer -- something they wouldn't do if they didn't think it would pay off. Indeed, the Oscar Myer Weinermoblie -- a top attraction -- later made a special trip to Georgia to visit "Domestic Diva" a well-known blogger Mom who couldn't make the convention.
Now I don't believe that anyone can be bought off by a ride in the Weinermobile. But it's easy to see why Oscar Myer would want blogging moms to associate its products with campy Americana kitsch. That would seem to be so much better than thinking of Oscar Myer's processed salt, fat and meat byproducts as potentially lethal concoctions that could inflate the bellies, clog the arteries and raise the blood pressure of America.
Editors at mainstream media make sure that a bit of skepticism appears in most articles puffing products. There's no such constraint on Domestic Diva who called her family's ride in the Weinermobile "the best day of my life." Reader beware.
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i dunno bill. i know some who would sell their souls for a ride in the WM!
ReplyDeleteHey, Bill. When are we going to do something really fun and really provocative about our friends in Rochester? Fertile ground for so many creative possibilities (especially.....post WWII American hegemony meets the global economy...and how we are better off and how we are worse).
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