Blogging Bribes, Freedom of Press and Blogs

Some comments to my article (Laptops NOT a Microsoft Bribe?) on Digg.com made me realize that I should be a little more clear of where I stand on the issue.

Firstly Credibility
If you knew a travel operator had sponsored some journalists writing a merry story or review about a rather unknown holiday beach somewhere half around the world, the chances are you would find them slightly less credible on their review. At the same time it’s so much better for them to disclose the fact that they actually were sponsored. Because not disclosing it, would then in fact perhaps be “misinterpereted” as a bribe.

Secondly Finances
There is no doubt that the finances of an established newspaper compared to a privately financed hobby blog are going to decide what the reviewer is capable of reviewing. In that light, if a “poor” reviewer should be given the possibility to review something that he at a first glance can’t afford, that should be a good thing. Though how the product is acquired is even more importantly something that should be told during the review. However if the product is already on the market, the established newspaper should strive to self finance the products.

Thirdly Not a Perfect World
Even the established newspapers might have owners that just grant them enough cash for their survival; therefore a free product to review might be greatly appreciated. In an ideal situation, the press is supposed to be free. Not told by anybody how to write an article or review something, in that way the reader is hopefully receiving a more correct picture of reality. But again, representation of reality will always be skewed. A lot of people don’t want to lose face or credibility and therefore might not inform readers that they have received a product for free. I’m sure this is the case every single day, and we can only be glad that Microsoft’s contribution, along with the others (Acer, AMD), has been brought to our attention.

Fourthly I’m biased
I mentioned it in my last post’s edit, but I’ll mention it again. My experiences with Microsoft’s operating systems have not been all that good, along side with Internet Explorer. Where I used to spend countless hours trying to make my webdesigns work for IE, when they looked nice on all the other browsers, just because Microsoft didn’t want to follow the standards. In addition that error pages and domains that are not found, even if you just forget the www, will lead you back to Microsoft’s search pages I interpret as an attempt to generate “false” internet traffic to their own sites.

Fifthly I’m not writing more quite yet
I’m sure I could write a great deal more on this matter, and I know there are books on similar issue’s. But for readability and other things I need to get done I’ll call it a day for now. 

(This post, like many of my other posts, is just me thinking aloud, and I don’t have the facts in front of me and may be totally wrong. And if so please tell me.)

More about this in the news:
Scott Beale is donating auction proceeds to EFF: Windows Vista Laptop on eBay, Proceeds Going To EFF
Amit Agarwal: What other bloggers are doing with their Microsoft freebies
Microsoft gives laptops that are not optimal for Vista Premium(?): Microsoft Gives Bloggers Sub-Aero (2.8) Laptops
B.L. Ochman: Edelman Has New Ethics Scandal Brewing With Microsoft’s Blogger Bribe Campaign
Chris Abraham: In Defense of Edelman over Bribery Charges