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What Are Blogging Ethics?

Chelsea Rae Simmons | Around the Blog Scene, Fashion, News, Think About It | Thursday, 18 February 2010
Pink Rock Candy, IFB Evolving Influence Conference, Navigating Ethics Panel
Left to right: Gina Garrubbo, Mary Scherpe, Carl Hoyt, Jessica Schroeder, Imram Amed, and Diane Pernet

Ethics…

I had a philosophy class about ethics, once, and my professor was promptly fired for calling another professor a douchebag and telling him to do Oedipal things to his mother. Needless, to say that class was more interesting than helpful. The next couple of years, ethics in terms of Journalism and Public Relations had been beaten into my brain, however the “Navigating Ethics Pane” at the Independent Fashion Bloggers Evolving Influence conference I attended on February 15, left me struggling internally.

“To be a good PR professional, you have to, first, be a good journalist,” is the mantra of my many public relations professors.

“Never, NEVER accept gifts from people or brands you are writing about. A journalist is supposed to remain unbiased,” tout my journalism professors all having either worked at Newsday, The New York Times or both.

“Getting free stuff for writing a blog post is like the barter system,” exclaims a semi-scandalous blogger at the IFB conference. What can only be described as a rant by said blogger, went downhill fast after making slightly anti-Semitic generalizations about the Jewish people (read about it here).

None of this information is helpful in the blogging ethics situation.

Even the discussion had between the panelist of the “Navigating Ethics Panel” at the blogging conference— The New York Times‘ Carl Hoyt (also, a Pultizer Prize winning journalist), What I Wore’s Jessica Schroeder, BlogHer’s Gina Garrubbo, The Business of Fashion’s Imram Amed, A Shaded View of Fashion’s Diane Pernet, Still in Berlin’s Mary Scherpe, and jewelery designer/blogger Wendy Brandes as moderator— left things quite unresolved.

Carl Hoyt takes the stance of The New York Times and the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) about accepting gifts.

“Refuse gifts, favors, fees, free travel and special treatment, and shun secondary employment, political involvement, public office and service in community organizations if they compromise journalistic integrity,” states the SPJ Code of Ethics.

Many will argue, bloggers aren’t journalists, and to be quite honest, when it comes to writing for Pink Rock Candy, I do not consider it journalistic writing. I consider writing on PRC more personal commentary, though I don’t believe this gives me leave to act unethically when it comes to honest content. So, why should I have different ethical standards in terms of gifts?

Others will remark, fashion editors are regularly gifted items, a notion Diane Pernet, who is also the co-Editor-in-Chief of Zoo Magazine, will not contest, however she does say these gifts are nice but never does she feel forced to write about said gift. Does accepting, but using personal judgment to remain unbiased make accepting gifts ethical? Is this practice too trusting of a blogger’s personal judgment?

I’m not regularly offered free goods for blogging, and if I am, either the offer seems like a bribe and I decline or the offer comes after I’ve already written a post and rarely do I ever write about a brand more than once.

If I am offered and do accept a gift after writing a post, do I have to go back and write an update saying I’ve received said item after this feature from the brand?

Also, I intern regularly, and have received items as trade/pay for my hard work. Is it unethical to omit that I did not buy said item with cold hard cash but a clothing allowance? (As a side note, I always admit if the brand I’m speaking about is a brand I’ve worked with.)

In terms of the larger blogging community, and not simply my little self-obsessed universe, would it be helpful to create some sort of blogging code of ethics? There may be no true way of enforcing it, but simply having said code written out and online so bloggers can refer to it if ever they have an ethical dilemma may be helpful. There is the FCC FTC regulation (Thanks, Wendy B. I must have PR class on the brain), but that doesn’t touch on ethics just disclosure two similar but very different things.

It’s obvious a longer discussion needs to be held about blogger ethics.

Were any of you at the panel or watching it online? What did you think? Also, what do you think should be done about the unwritten rules about gifts, disclosure, and blogger ethics in general?

  • hey chelsea -- thanks so much for your comment on my epic novel of a blog post the other day... always glad to hear from and read input from other people who are just as interested/involved in thinking about these things.

    i was at the IFB adn Chictopia conferences too and I work in digital marketing (read: i also send free shit to bloggers) so these things are especially interesting to me... I come from a music background and the FTC regulations were equally confusing there for other reasons. If I send someone an MP3 and they post it, should they disclose that it came from a publicist? If I send them a CD, does that have "value" above and beyond the actual music files on it? etc, etc... why do magazines not need to disclose when items are serviced by publicists and what does this say about the percieved "authenticity" of the "personal blog?" etc... all of these things get so complicated!
  • You silly girl, your blog is so journalistic. As someone who has studied writing and journalism myself (not as much as I'd like recently, unfortunately), I look up to your blog.. You don't spout out the same thing as everyone else with the same trends and style tips, but write your own well-formed opinions, backed by tons of facts. You're a great writer.

    I think it can work to maintain integrity if you receive free gifts and product to review. If I pay out of pocket for something expensive and it doesn't meet my expectations, I might give it a worse review than if I'd received it free of charge. As someone in the lower-middle-class bracket (respectfully, at 23 and away from the nest), my frugality could hurt the review, even though the price might be totally acceptable for the audience I'm writing to. If I reviewed only free products, I think my reviews would be much more fair. When doing those reviews I always ask myself, 'Would I pay full price for this?' and include that in my article.

    I also think that it shows a lot of integrity and proves to your readers that you're for real when you can say, "I received this product for free but I can't stand it and would never buy it."

    No-gift rules are for people with wishy-washy ethics from the get-go, in my opinion. If you respect your readers and your craft, you'll do fine with or without gifts or sponsors.

    Blogging doesn't pay by itself. Some people do advertising,, some direct sponsors. I think that accepting swag is probably the least scandalous way you can be 'paid' by your blog.
  • Maintaining integrity is definitely really important, and like Wendy said, it's important not to waiver in your decisions.

    I say I don't consider Pink Rock Candy to be journalistic writing, because I have had the experience of writing hard news pieces. I've been lucky in the fact that I've had amazing journalism professors, and I absorbed a lot from their courses. I do try to try to as you say, write my own "well-formed opinions," but I do feel they are only opinions based on things I have read or experienced myself. I strive to be a good writer--- though, I do find myself writing in circles and often asking more questions than I answer--- but, because I do let my biases show, I don't claim to be a journalist. I believe as one, you should be unbiased.

    I don't mean to seem ungrateful of the compliment, because I can't say enough how much the opinions of my readers (especially you and others whom I respect) mean to me. I'm completely flattered that you consider my writing journalistic. Maybe it's my self-confidence, but I try to maintain a realistic opinion of my achievements, and for now I simply want to be seen as a wonderful writer and a well-informed fashion designer.

    I have to conclude this by saying, Thank you, thank you, Janine!
  • It's the FTC, not the FCC :-)

    I don't think a code of ethics can be written at this time. There are too many different goals for different blogs to generalize (though any fashion NEWS blog should never accept anything, ever). My recommendation is to make a conscious decision -- don't just drift into some form of behavior -- and disclose anything that a reasonable bystander might think would color your commentary.

    One thing I would like to insist bloggers do is to stop whining, "But magazines do it." (Many of them say that without having any first-hand experience with magazine life.) That is not a good rationalization for any sort of behavior. Bloggers should make their own decisions and stick to it without hiding behind their fantasy of behavior at Conde Nast.
  • Ahh, changed! Oh, how my class lectures blur into the rest of my life.

    I agreed that blogging is so broad that creating and enforcing one standardized set of ethics wpuld be nearly impossible, but I don't think it would be a terrible idea if groups of like-minded bloggers came together, created, and published their "code of ethics." It might be a step in the right direction, and it might inspire other bloggers to do something similar. It definitely starts with making a conscious decision to have consistent behavior, but progress can always be made.

    It, too, annoys me when bloggers liken themselves to magazine editors, especially when they have never worked in the industry. Magazines, newspapers, and other forms of traditional media are completely different beasts, hence the reason blogging ethics is a topic of conversation. It's also really demeaning to magazines because many times the implication is that they are acting in an inappropriate manner, making it ok for bloggers to do so as well.

    Anyway, I could probably ramble on and talk in circles about this topic forever. Thanks for the correction (such a fail on my part).
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