Disclose This
In America our market based economy encourages individuals to do and create things for which those individuals may be compensated, usually with cash.Cash is a good thing.
The purpose of this blog has always been to inform and entertain. It remains so. However, to do so requires a significant investment of time on the part of the blog writers. I'd like to make some money off this blog and I would like to see our writers be compensated some way as well.
Therefore, we will continue to take advertising and we will occasionally run paid content on the blog. Unless there is a good reason (in our view) to do otherwise, most likely that content will be identified. We will not run paid content is influenced by compensation from any elected official, politician, political consultant, government employee or anything related to the coverage of local politics unless you are made aware of such. Most of the paid content will be related to non-political issues. Consider it a way to keep the lights on here without asking you to pay. Its like a pledge break without a pledge.
Whether content is influenced by some form of compensation, you as a reader continue to have the right to take it or leave it.
I agree with the mission of disclosurepolicy.org in which bloggers should publish some policy as to their intents to earn compensation from blogging. Therefore, I am publishing the following policy both in this post and in the sidebar. I encourage other bloggers to do the same.
If you don't like it, go play on the freeway.
This policy is valid from 30 November 2006
This blog is a collaborative blog written by a group of individuals. For questions about this blog, please contact mayorsamyorty@aol.com.
This blog accepts forms of cash advertising, sponsorship, paid insertions or other forms of compensation. The compensation received may influence the advertising content, topics or posts made in this blog. That content, advertising space or post may not always be identified as paid or sponsored content.
The owner(s) of this blog is compensated to provide opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. Even though the owner(s) of this blog receives compensation for our posts or advertisements, we always give our honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experiences on those topics or products. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the bloggers' own. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider or party in question.
This blog does contain content which might present a conflict of interest. This content may not always be identified.
To get your own policy, go to http://www.disclosurepolicy.org
Posted by Mayor Sam @ 11/29/2006 10:51:00 PM
19 Comments:
ok I will have some extra cash this friday. When can we order go play on the freeway shirts again?
And I slept in my lime green pay-to-play the LA Way shirt last night.
So you will be accepting advertising money for this blog and this is something new, right? Or at least different than what you have been doing in the past?
If I have that correct, then if we notice a conflict of interest ourselves and we turn it in to you, then what happens?
I'm saddened by this news. I thought that this was supposed to be open speech, not speech which is influenced by money.
So much for Mayor Sam. I'll assume that this dissenting comment gets to stay, or are you going to bounce it?
"That content, advertising space or post may not always be identified as paid or sponsored content."
That's an incredible statement for a site that criticizes newspapers and political advertising. You guys were always a tool for pols.
FYI, I have never received any money for writing anything at Mayor Sam. I'd be perfectly willing to, but I have not. A car, sure; I got a car for one article, but no money. Well, unless you count Euros, but that money didn't even go into an American account, so that's technically not "me" receiving money. And the fee office space is hardly worth mentioning.
I meant "free," not "fee," though "fee" is a perfectly good real estate term.
Sorry, Walter. You work in a whorehouse, people are going to think you're a whore.
Newspaper, television and radio stations accept advertising to pay the writers, reporters and hosts.
If someone feels a blog is an effective medium to reach their target audience, why is it wrong for this or any blog to accept advertising?
Read the disclosure 10:42. Nobody has a problem with advertising. The problem is with unidentified paid "content.'
Who cares if something is paid "content" or not? Dosen't a story speak for itself. The reader can agree or disagree. If paid content means the writer is compromised then they will lose credibility and the people will see through it as in the case of L.A. Times. If someone wants to pay for a story about why voters should approve a bond or why voters should vote no on a certain issue that's fine with me because there are always two sides to every story, always an opposing view and I'm smart enough to draw my own conclusions.
That's crazy. So if I'm a Sun Valley homeowner being paid by Home Depot's PR firm to post comments under my name in favor of the project without revealing I'm on the payroll, you think that's OK? (BTW, that crap has gone for years in LA.)
Yeah. That's OK. If someone is paying you to post comments, it must be because someone feels you have a reputation with people.
Most likely, the paid comment would be congruent with the author's "heart of hearts" viewpoint anyway.
If not, the author would quickly lose the credibility and reputation they worked so hard for.
City Clowncil better pay my ass
If Clowncil pays I post
HOW MANY HITS DOES THIS BLOG GET PER DAY.
POST THAT INFORMATION. IT'S EASY TO DO.
MAYBE THEN YOU'LL GET DONATIONS, ADS.
UNTIL THEN, UH-UH
5:08, I don't believe the number of hits to this sight is of interest to you for donation purposes. You actually want to determine how many of us are out here that want to eliminate our shady, corrupt,...(fill in the blank) city hall officials. No, not all LA citizens are apathetic and distracted.
I was curious to see what responses I would get here and I am actually impressed.
To answer some questions, Dgarzilla I will look into that. If we can't do it now, I'll look into it.
Lime green sexy kitten we always have accepted ad money. Its mostly pennies.
Walter, I want this to generate enough dough for all of us to get paid.
As far as paid content, it won't be Home Depot flacks (or anyone else) blogging on city issues. It will be articles about topics like pop culture, technology, etc. Basically non-city politics issues that are kind of like the commercials between the news on TV. At this time, no one has proposed using us for astro-turfing and even if we did take their money we would let you know. And in most cases we will let you know its just that in case we forget or it isn't obvious, I want the bases covered.
PayPerPost@ http://payperpost.com/page/blogger
"Once you have selected an Opportunity, create a post on your blog, paying attention to the Opportunity requirements the advertiser has set forth. Then submit the direct link back to us. Our team will review the content and either approve or deny the post. If it is denied, you will be given a chance to revise and resubmit. Post reviews are usually approved within 72 business hours, but may take longer depending on volume. Your post must remain live on your blog for 30 days (the post doesn't have to remain on the front page). Keep blogging as usual... eat a sandwich; go get a haircut."
Cnet News PayPerPost
http://news.com.com/2061-12572_3-6090224.html
How Cool is This Mayor Sam?
"June 30, 2006 2:15 PM PDT
del.icio.us Digg this
Just saw this on TechCrunch (referencing a BusinessWeek article): PayPerPost is a new system that pays bloggers a bounty to write about products and services. Companies sign up for the network (currently there are offers to cover iTunes, Superman Returns, Match.com, and many other products) and pay bloggers when they cover their products. There's no requirement that the blog run a disclosure that the item is paid.
This is a bad, bad, bad thing. It's hard enough for bloggers and professional journalists to maintain their integrity as it is."
Link read
http://news.com.com/2061-12572_3-6090224.html
The PayPerPost Virus Spreads
"The PayPerPost model brings up memories of payola in the music industry, something the FCC and state attorney generals are still trying to eliminate or control. Given the distributed and unlicensed nature of the blogosphere, controlling payoffs to bloggers will be exponentially more difficult."
http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/10/12/the-payperpost-virus-spreads/
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