Forbes blogger Victoria Barret: Is Pure Journalism Unaffordable?

"Dan Frommer of Silicon Alley Insider is in Barcelona this week covering the Mobile World Conference. In a post about the event, he mentions this aside:

Disclaimer: Samsung was generous enough to sponsor our trip to Barcelona. So we’re feeling pretty warm and fuzzy about Samsung right now! That said, we will continue to strive for editorial accuracy and fairness, and we don’t think that our Mobile World Congress coverage will be different as a result.

Woah. Let’s be clear, here. Samsung is buying influence. If they didn’t think they were, why would they bother buying journalists’ airplane tickets and putting them up in hotels? (Frommer, I’m told, is not the only one being “sponsored”.)  Then again, the likely alternative is that Frommer would be covering the event from his desk."


From a comment posted on the blog:

"This kind of thing is routine in the automotive industry, I’m afraid. Carmakers like to unveil their new models in gorgeous places with great roads (unlike Detroit’s) and pay journalists’ airfare and four-star hotel accommodations. At Forbes, we always pay our own way, as do many other mainstream news organizations, but sometimes we can’t afford to go. But freelancers and bloggers don’t have a travel budget and they are dependent on the car companies to pay their expenses. Of course, that results in favorable coverage. If they trashed a car in a review, they wouldn’t be invited back. It’s a sad state of affairs for journalism."

http://blogs.forbes.com/victoriabarret/2011/02/17/is-pure-journalism-unaffordable/ 
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