A Reporter, Posing as Sketchy PR, Asked 28 Media Outlets If They'd Take Money To Publish Content Without Disclosing it Was Advertising. More Than Half Said Yes. (breakermag.com)

Corin Faife, writing for BreakerMag: The level of deception used was minimal: we created a fake email account, and claimed to be representing a PR company. There was no fake website or domain associated; it was simply a Gmail address with a profile picture found by image searching "Russian actor." Next we compiled a list of blockchain media sites. This was by no means exhaustive, but to have a sense of the scale of the problem, we needed numbers. All in all, we reached out to 28 sites, and received a yes/no reply from 22 by the time of publication, with two inconclusive. [...] Of the 22 outlets who replied conclusively, 12 of them -- more than half the total -- were willing to publish paid content without disclosing it as such.

Comments

"Blockchain media outlets"

[aardvarkjoe]

Is it any real surprise that a high percentage of blockchain sites are kind of shady?

Re:"Blockchain media outlets"

[alvinrod]

Given the amount of schemes and scams surrounding crypto-currencies, I think the real surprise is that it's only ~50% of sites being willing to publish advertisements as content.

Re:"Blockchain media outlets"

[HarrySquatter]

Yes, I am thoroughly shocked that websites peddling monopoly money schemes on the public are shady! /s

I was expecting this to be some sort of story involving media sites anyone has ever heard of like The Washington Post, the NYT, the NY Post, etc.. Instead it's mostly sketchy websites next-to-no-one has ever heard of full of ads and tracking scripts.

Misleading Headline

[necro81]

Headline: "Reporter, Posing as Sketchy PR, Asked 28 Media Outlets If They'd Take Money To Publish Content Without Disclosing it Was Advertising. More Than Half Said Yes"

Summary: "Next we compiled a list of blockchain media sites. This was by no means exhaustive, but to have a sense of the scale of the problem, we needed numbers. All in all, we reached out to 28 sites"

I know it's trendy to accuse any news organization, publisher, studio, website, crazy-uncle's blog, or AM radio shack broadcaster as shady, untrustworthy, or otherwise peddling falsehoods.

On the other hand, there's a BIG difference between "media outlets" and "blockchain media sites," (whatever the hell those are). The headline implies that some number of the big and names that one encounters on a day-to-day basis (the NYTimes, CNN, Fox News, CBS/NBC/ABC, WSJ, etc.) may be publishing paid content as their own. The reality of this news item is...far more underwhelming.

Honestly, Slashdot Editor, this is sloppy work even by the usual low standards.

"Media outlets"

[houghi]

I read the article and none of them I recognise as "Media outlets". From what I have seen they are more like blogging sites.

Hey, I have a website. Give me 5000USD and I post something for you without saying where it came from.

The Proper Headline

[Macdude]

A Reporter, Posing as Sketchy PR, Asked 28 Sketchy Bloggers If They'd Take Money To Publish Content Without Disclosing it Was Advertising. More Than Half Said Yes.