That's a nice sentiment if you're making serious money or are otherwise well funded. Maybe their writers ought to take a vow of celibacy too, just in case.
Maybe, but with the endless number of reporters sleeping with the people they're reporting on or sleeping around in the industries they're reporting in, I think a degree of celibacy may not be such a absurd idea.
Every third establishment licking journalist is sleeping with some high level Democratic or Republican functionary or a Goldman VP. I wouldn't be surprised if tech turned out to be similar.
If it is, then it's a major fail because all it would take would be for the bloggers to state that Samsung paid for their travel and accomodation when they went to the event, but they are independent reviews. That should be sufficient for people to make up their mind.
That is a simplistic point of view that fails to take into account the reality of operating media organisations that are not very profitable or well funded. While readers aren't paying for what they consume, someone else has to.
There can be a big gap between a handy freebie and a conflict of interest, and the trick is to operate in that space without stepping over the lines. It's just another part of the professional journalist's job and skillset.
Edited to add: That gap I spoke about above; that's nothing to do with this ongoing Samsung thing, which certainly falls well outside the lines any pro journalist would draw. But then I don't think Samsung's programme is intended for pro journalists...
Sorry, but I disagree. It's not about being trustworthy, it's about incentives and avoiding the appearance of bias.
"Professional journalist" means you get paid enough money to conduct independent journalism without compensation from the subject of your research. It also means that even relationships which could appear to be conflicts of interest (such as receiving early samples, letting them buy you lunch) are fully disclosed to avoid even the appearance of such.
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That's a nice sentiment if you're making serious money or are otherwise well funded. Maybe their writers ought to take a vow of celibacy too, just in case.
Or if you think it might be wrong to lie to strangers for money.
Is that reductio ad absurdum in action?
Maybe, but with the endless number of reporters sleeping with the people they're reporting on or sleeping around in the industries they're reporting in, I think a degree of celibacy may not be such a absurd idea.
Every third establishment licking journalist is sleeping with some high level Democratic or Republican functionary or a Goldman VP. I wouldn't be surprised if tech turned out to be similar.
If it is, then it's a major fail because all it would take would be for the bloggers to state that Samsung paid for their travel and accomodation when they went to the event, but they are independent reviews. That should be sufficient for people to make up their mind.
>Samsung paid for their travel and accomodation when they went to the event, but they are independent reviews
Only if the word "independent" has decided to become a synonym for 'sassy' and leave behind the boring 'disentangled.'
No, this is not a nice sentiment. This is absolutely required if you want to have any claim on being 'independent' or a 'reporter'.
That is a simplistic point of view that fails to take into account the reality of operating media organisations that are not very profitable or well funded. While readers aren't paying for what they consume, someone else has to.
There can be a big gap between a handy freebie and a conflict of interest, and the trick is to operate in that space without stepping over the lines. It's just another part of the professional journalist's job and skillset.
Edited to add: That gap I spoke about above; that's nothing to do with this ongoing Samsung thing, which certainly falls well outside the lines any pro journalist would draw. But then I don't think Samsung's programme is intended for pro journalists...
Sorry, but I disagree. It's not about being trustworthy, it's about incentives and avoiding the appearance of bias.
"Professional journalist" means you get paid enough money to conduct independent journalism without compensation from the subject of your research. It also means that even relationships which could appear to be conflicts of interest (such as receiving early samples, letting them buy you lunch) are fully disclosed to avoid even the appearance of such.