Yes. I am railing against the “man” and on a rant again. Today I read an article from John C. Dvorak and from the Associated Press via Google News about how the FTC is planning on going after bloggers who do not declare if the products they review have been given to them freely. There is an issue at stake which implies that because a blogger has received a product at no cost that they feel obligated to produce a positive review, subsequently skewing the results in the companies favor. This is what advertising is for, but some bloggers have been taking advantage of this process with willing and monied PR folk itching to find easier ways to compel people to buy their crap.

Some bloggers get paid for articles. Others receive free products. I fall into that category, but only slightly. I follow the standardized and accepted practice of arranging for product reviews with PR firms and then I report on my findings objectively. This is called journalism, and it is a symbiotic relationship. I am under no obligation whatsoever to produce a positive review for any product I receive and the PR firms are under no obligation to send me anything. When I am interested in a product, and I’m rather discerning, I send a request to a PR contact. They either ship me the product or not. If they do ship it, more often than not I am asked to return it within 30-60 days.

This is a common practice which has been going on in legitimate consumer journalism circles for decades, and there’s nothing new about it. There are no secret, smoky back rooms where journalists hammer out deals worth millions. In fact, most of us our just barely scraping along. There is so much competition from upstart blog farms like Gizmodo and Engadget (at least in my end of the pool) simply drown everything in their firehose form of “journalism” that its now very hard for the quality reviewers to be heard over the sheer noise of blogger hell. PDA Handyman succumbed to the fury of blogging, briefly becoming Mobility Handyman, then shifting to the blog format of Mobodojo.

So, how does the FTC decide whether a person is a journalist or a blogger? Am I a blogger because I use WordPress? What if I used another blogging tool like B2evolution or Textpattern? What if I switched to Joomla or Drupal? Would I then be considered a journalist? What if I purchased all of the goods I review? Would I then have to prove that I used my own money and wasn’t given funds to do so from a manufacturer? What about PC Magazine, MacWorld magazine, or any other magazine which reviews products? They use the same exact processes I do to secure goods for review. Since they post reviews online are they, too, to be considered bloggers?

This entire FTC whirlpool smacks of having not been well thought through. What I’d like to know is if sites like Gizmodo and Engadget will get consideration for being large sites which each handle millions of monthly hits? Are they journalists? I’m sure they consider themselves such. They do journalist-like things, but they do it from a personal perspective which steps well outside the bounds of being objective. Maybe that’s my failing. I am, at times, very biased and in those moments I consider myself a pundit. Of course, I categorize these posts under “Opinionation” so they are not confused with news. When I do post news, which is rare these days, I often slip in some of my personal thoughts.

I never, however, allow any aspect of the procurement process to shade my reviews. I can point to a case in fact; the Sony Mylo 2. To be blunt, its a piece of crap and its nowhere near being worth the money Sony sells it for. I wrote the review, sent the link to my PR contact, noted that it was rather harsh but didn’t get upset, and she thanked me. We discussed some more products for review, and I’ve not heard from her since. I could ping her again, asking about the VAIO P or the upcoming Sony PSPgo, but I doubt it will result in anything. That’s the price I pay, and I gladly pay it to retain my honesty and integrity. That’s because I’m a journalist and a pundit. I speak my mind when I have an opinion (often) and I clearly and concisely review products when I get them.

I wonder what category that will put me in with the FTC. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see later this year.

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