LA Times article on PayPerPost

Friday's LA Times had an extensive article about PayPerPost in the Business section. It was on the front page of that section in the lower half and included two photos. Most of it featured the top earner on PayPerPost, Colleen. I don't think it was a balanced article. It was similar to the one I was part of a few months ago where you are interviewed and you provide examples and respond to questions, only to find that you are portrayed in a negative light in the article. I guess that's the way it goes, but in this article, there are quotes from two critics of PayPerPost, which is good to provide balance, but the writer has a biased slant against it also, and that comes through in the way he describes the two PayPerPost bloggers who are part of the story.

Some of their fellow bloggers are critical, saying the industry is polluting the blog world and misleading consumers by blurring the line between advertising and unbiased opinion.

"The problem is the advertisers are trying to buy a blogger's voice, and once they've bought it they own it," said Jeff Jarvis, a City University of New York journalism professor who writes about technology at BuzzMachine.com.

"PayPerPost versus authentic blogging is like comparing prostitution with making love to someone you care for deeply. No one with any level of ethics would get involved with these clowns," said Jason McCabe Calacanis, an entrepreneur who co-founded Weblogs Inc., a network of blogs that includes popular technology site Engadget.

The problem with this quote is that the "fellow bloggers" quoted aren't really the same kind of bloggers as the ones who participate in PayPerPost. Jason Calacanis started weblogs, inc., which consists of a bunch of sites which have paid bloggers writing about specific topics such as electronics, video games, Apple, and more. Each of these sites contains lots of ads -- under the header, in the sidebar and in between the posts. I like these sites and check them frequently, but there is no disclosure on these sites like Engadget about what kinds of relationships exist between the writers and the products they write about. Jason Calacanis has frequently criticised PayPerPost in regard to disclosure, and he also has ads and endorsements on his personal blog with no disclosure. In fact, he attacks PayPerPost based on the LA Times article on a post on his own blog. I have to agree with the idea that disclosure at the top of each post is the way to go. I have done this with most of my posts and have tried to go back and correct the others. I do need to develop a better system to make it easier to do that.

Jeff Jarvis is a former reporter, a professor and not the typical blogger. He does have a very extensive disclosure on his site though.

There is no disclosure I could find on Jason Calacanis' site, just a bio written in the third person.