It’s refreshing to be reminded that behind the scenes are normal people just doing their job and doing it with passion and care.

I’m glad the fillet was good!

Quite so – it wasn’t. And I’ll wager that ADL’s readers figured as much. But again, thank you for making the distinction.

Jim > Your advice is sound. And you’re right – there are plenty of both self-proclaimed and un-proclaimed “advocacy journalists” out there pushing agendas.

For a moment let’s lump bloggers in with mainstream media as the media. In my view the media breaks down into two groups, those who I’ll call Reporters and define seeking and presenting facts and then letting the chips fall as they may. Reporters are a small group and exist only in select newspapers, magazines and even fewer broadcast/cable outlets.

The others are Promoters and while they may present some facts they may also ignore some if it interferes with the narrative or agenda they are promoting.

Like (most)individuals who contribute large amounts of money to political campaigns, businesses that sponsor paid promotional junkets are seeking to establish a relationship that they hope will garner sympathetic treatment at some future time. And there’s nothing wrong with that from a business point of view.

One of my favorite automotive writers is David E. Davis Jr., Davis usually is honestly critical in his analysis, but every now and then, he’ll write something that is completely asinine and it usually is in defense of some individual or group who is being absolutely pummeled elsewhere, and for good reason, but he’ll issue a defense because it is an individual or institution he cares about.

Just be intellectually honest and you’ll be alright.

Jim

In hosting social media, we hope we’re providing content that is of interest to you and your readers. We also (obviously) hope that our products will impress a blogger enough to generate a positive post. But NOWHERE in the invitations or agreement is there either the expectation or even implication that we expect a post — positive or negative — as a result of having hosted anyone.

If a blogger writes positively about our products as a result of having attended an event as our guest, great. We hope we earn it every time we reach out to you. If a blogger is less than impressed and writes negatively, then that’s part of the game too — and it provides us healthy feedback about what we need to do better at. We recognize that the individual perspectives that each blogger brings to the table is what makes them worthwhile to their readers, and we don’t want to get in the way of that. So we don’t even ask anyone to post at all unless they feel motivated to. There is no “quid pro quo” expected.

All we ask is that, as you did, IF a blogger chooses to write about something he or she saw while our guest, they disclose to their readers (again, as you did) that we paid for their trip and hosted them. We make that request specifically to avoid harming the credibility of the bloggers involved, and our own.

So, just to be clear – we’re not operating on a pay-per-post model. We didn’t pay you or any bloggers to post anything. I’m sure you understand my sensitivity to clarifying that point.

All that said, your post itself is insightful and candid, and I enjoyed reading it. Thanks for coming to the show, and I enjoyed meeting you.

And how come nobody’s mentioned anything about The Truth’s unimaginative shirt-pants combination as photographed at Jalopnik?

Dockers and an Oxford Blue shirt? So 1992.

Excellent post; I wish more bloggers would be more sincere and self-aware in their writings.