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Contributors To Prominent Publications Have Taken Payments in Exchange For Positive Coverage (theoutline.com)

Posted by msmash on from the what-to-watch dept.

Jon Christian, reporting for The Outline: Interviews with more than two dozen marketers, journalists, and others familiar with similar pay-for-play offers revealed a dubious corner of online publishing in which publicists blur traditional lines between advertising and public relations, quietly pay off journalists to promote their clients in articles that make no mention of the financial arrangement. People involved with the payoffs are extremely reluctant to discuss them, but four contributing writers to prominent publications including Mashable, Business Insider, and Entrepreneur told me they have personally accepted payments in exchange for weaving promotional references to brands into their work on those sites. Two of the writers acknowledged they have taken part in the scheme for years, on behalf of many brands. One of them, a contributor to Fast Company and other outlets who asked not to be identified by name, described how he had inserted references to a well-known startup that offers email marketing software into multiple online articles, in Fast Company and elsewhere, on behalf of a marketing agency he declined to name.

13 of 130 comments (clear)

  1. Double Standard by danbert8 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It drives me nuts that bloggers and small time accounts are required by the FCC to tag and make obvious their posts that include sponsored content, but the major media outlets have blatant advertising all over the place that isn't disclosed. If it's an ad, they need to start putting disclaimers on it. Any compensation be it free product or paid placement/reviews needs to be stated before and after the ad.

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    1. Re:Double Standard by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 2

      What about having a standard logo for this, which would make it easier to identify such content? And rules about the minimum dimensions of the logo for TV/streaming, printed media and the Web?

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    2. Re:Double Standard by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      The FCC does not regulate media content on the Internet. There is no legal requirement to tag sponsored content or disclose close relationships. The web sites or writers do it because of journalistic ethics and integrity.

    3. Re:Double Standard by FatdogHaiku · · Score: 2

      What about having a standard logo for this, which would make it easier to identify such content? And rules about the minimum dimensions of the logo for TV/streaming, printed media and the Web?

      Is the poop emoji copyrighted?
      Maybe lose the smile though...

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    4. Re:Double Standard by Plus1Entropy · · Score: 2

      No, but the FTC does in certain cases. Video game reviewers, for example, have very specific and strict rules about what they must disclose. For example, if a review copy of the game was provided by a developer/publisher, they must say so at the beginning of the video. It's a fairly recent development, from what I understand.

      Here is an example.

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  2. Journalism ... by CaptainDork · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ... is cheaper than advertising.

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  3. It happens by PopeRatzo · · Score: 5, Interesting

    This is just the tip of the iceberg. Forbes just fired its science writer for having Monsanto ghost-write his pro-GMO articles for him. The scumbag is also a "researcher" at Stanford who has published scientific articles about how safe GMOs are.

    http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.c...

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    1. Re: It happens by reanjr · · Score: 2

      You know GMOs are safe right? Or are you a gene denier?

    2. Re:It happens by PopeRatzo · · Score: 2

      I haven't yet heard of any major proven problems with GMO

      If Monsanto is willing to go to such shady lengths to have researchers say good things about their products, are you surprised that you haven't heard of any proven problems?

      Just remember how far the tobacco industry was willing to go to make people think their poison was safe.

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  4. That title is a bit long... by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Are the words "bribe" and "corrupted" still in modern dictionaries?

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    1. Re:That title is a bit long... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Yeah, but they're just redirects to "political donation" and "business".

  5. FTFY by xxxJonBoyxxx · · Score: 4, Informative

    ALMOST ALL PUBLICATIONS will take a well-crafted PR statement, make a few changes and publish it as a story.

    FTFY. (Having spent years on both sides of the game.)

    1. Re:FTFY by thomst · · Score: 2

      xxxJonBoyxxx corrected:

      ALMOST ALL PUBLICATIONS will take a well-crafted PR statement, make a few changes and publish it as a story.

      FTFY. (Having spent years on both sides of the game.)

      Sadly, I am out of points, or else I would mod this post +1 Informative.

      As a former computer industry writer (my last gig was as a columnist and feature writer for Boardwatch Magazine, before Penton Media first turned it into a low-rent Network World clone, then folded it), I've seen this kind of thing happen all the time. We didn't do it at Boardwatch, but I sure came under considerable pressure to whore myself out when McGraw-Hill ousted Susan Breidenbach as editor in chief at LAN Times and replaced her and her entire editorial staff with ambitious rejects from PC Week.

      In fact, it was the new features editor's insistence that I "coordinate content with the front of the book" (industry journo-speak for "lightly re-write press releases from our biggest advertisers - or else") that left me no choice but to resign from LAN Times - and take my @internet column with me to Boardwatch ...

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