My editor just dropped a torn-out page from the July 10 issue of BusinessWeek on my desk. He had scrawled a note on it: “Need some extra cash?”
Headline on the page: “Polluting the Blogosphere … Bloggers are getting paid to push products. Disclosure is optional.” That pretty much sums up the piece by Jon Fine on a topic we also touched on here last year in my ‘Net Buzz column.
My editor knows that my wife and I just upgraded to a house that we can barely afford … but he was still joking about the extra cash.
And I might call a blogger who takes this kind of payola a whore … but that would be insulting to prostitutes, who at least are honest about what they do.
