When Blogs Take Goodies

This lead in Conde Naste's media publication, Portfolio, caught my eye:

Last week, I was surprised to learn that reporters from CNN, Fox News, the New York Post, the New York Daily News and the Huffington Post had all been allowed to go on an all-expenses-paid junket to Las Vegas, courtesy of JetBlue and Thrillist, and had taken home gift bags containing, among other swag, a shiny new Microsoft Zune (retail cost: $150 to $300). Don't any of those organizations have rules against journalists taking freebies?

The article then goes on to post the excuses (good or otherwise) received from CNN, Fox News, and the two NY tabloids. CNN and Fox said the junket violated their policies and claim to have returned the gift bags and reimbursed the junket organizer (Thrillist says no cash has come their way yet). The Post and News squabbled and pointed fingers at each other. Par for the course.

But no mention was made in the article of HuffPo's reaction. Were they not asked? Do they have a policy? Do they enforce it? Who knows? The blogosphere is the wild frontier when it comes to ethics.

Well, here's the resulting story, by Vreena von Pfetten, and it turns out she disclosed the freebie in the third graf:

In any case, [Thrillist's] big Vegas launch plus a very generous partnership with JetBlue means a plane full of "media types" (who, just like me, had no qualms about getting on a free flight to Vegas complete with gift bag and all - though, to be fair, some of the more ethically concerned, like CNet's Caroline McCarthy, paid their own way) ...

Jet Blue and Thrillist got a few plugs, readers got what appears to be an attempt at entertainment, though I'm still not at all sure what von Pfetten's purpose is, and the blogosphere continued expanding and reinventing itself.

I would be more comfortable with a strict no freebie policy, which I no doubt will enact if anyone is ever foolish generous enough to offer me gifts, thinking a C-SM mention is the key to whatever marketing conundrum they're facing.

New Media And America's Most Influential Conservatives

I quibble with some of the Telegraph's selections of the 20 most influential conservatives in America, but from their viewpoint across the pond, they did a pretty good job.

Quibbles: Are Giuliani (#1) and McCain (#9) really seen by conservatives as conservatives? And where is George Bush? Many of his picks and inner circle are on the list (Petraeus, #2, Cheney, #6, Gates, #7, Roberts, #8, Rice, #12, Bolton, #13, Gillespie, #20), but W is nowhere to be seen.

What's particularly interesting about the list is what it says about the media. The old media is nearly nonexistent on the list; only Paul Gigot, the editorial page editor of WSJ, makes the list, coming in at #14. The Telegraph's list of most influential liberals in America doubles that count, with Michael Moore (#7) and Oprah Winfrey (#9), but I think they're undercounting. At a minimum, Don Hewitt, the producer of 60 Minutes, should be on the list, as should Andrew Rosenthal, who chairs the editorial board at the NYT.

New media grab a full 20 percent of the Telegraph's most influential list, starting with Matt Drudge at #3 and running through Rush, #5, Laura Ingraham, #15, and Glen Beck, #18. On the liberal side, I my top 20 list would include Kos and the Blades/Boyd team at MoveOn.org, but no others. The Telegraph puts Kos at #12 and B/B at #20, but adds Ariana Huffington at #16.

Most interesting pick: Arnold Schwarzenegger as the eighth most influential liberal -- actually a very astute pick. He wouldn't be California's governor if he weren't a liberal. One has to wonder if there's room for the classic old liberal Republican now days, or whether the RINO label has made the position unmarketable.

Biggest burn: Elizabeth Edwards made the most lib list at #19, but her hubby didn't break into the top 20.

Best discussion generator: Rudy as the #1 most influential conservative in America. The biggest drag on his campaign is his liberal positions on social issues -- but that doesn't seem to discount him under the British definition of conservative.

Hat-tip: memeorandum