The price of ethics
It sounds a bit cavalier, I know, but I just turned down a free phone. RRP around £450. The timing was perfect: I’m about to buy a new handset, having got frustrated with my old Nexus One and thoroughly fed up with my iPhone.
There were strings, of course. But they didn’t insist I write a glowing review anywhere. They didn’t even oblige me to write a blog post or two. In fact, they didn’t ask me to generate any content at all, as far as I could tell from the T&Cs. However, they did insist that my name and face be available to them for future “publicity purposes”. Not with an endorsement appended, obviously, but still. I value my impartiality and independence, and a reputation for taking ethics seriously. Lending my name (even trivially) crosses a line.
Which leads neatly to a recent post on Travelllll.com. In a panel discussion at WTM 2011, leading travel bloggers apparently referred to hosting tourist boards as the blogger’s “client” (read the post comments and see, perhaps, here at 0:13, though it’s ambiguous). Now, I’ve met many of these writers, and they seem like smart, independent-minded folk to me. I’m sure this was just a slip of the tongue. They’d likely agree: unless you’re a paid copywriter, writing what is transparently promotional copy, then DMO PRs are not a writer’s client. They may facilitate your work. They might set up (and even host) a trip. But you’re not promoting them, and not writing for them. You’re writing for your readers.
If there are going to be more opportunities for independent writers to make a living online–and I hope there are–then proper journalistic (dirty word, I know) ethics need to be more visible. When you write for someone else, the publication’s ethics policy has to be yours, or you don’t get hired. When you’re the publisher and writer, I want to see a clear statement of your ethics displayed front-and-center. This is your declaration of independence. And if you’re not independent, then you’re just a shill.
It’s for this reason I have a problem with industry commentators (writers, journalists, bloggers, whoever) taking money as “brand ambassadors”. Sure, you can tell me you’d recommend this amazing product anyway. But your relationship with this brand is bound to make a reader unsure. By all means, as a travel or tech writer, work as a brand ambassador for toothpaste. But if your chosen brand works on your beat, I’m never going to trust in your impartiality. Sorry. And that, via a long way round, is why I turned down the phone. I can assure you that that phone would have made no difference to my reporting of smartphone travel. But words are cheap. Deeds, on the other hand, can be expensive… and are therefore valuable.
Ethics are costly; they’ve cost me £450 so far this week. But I like to think the cost of not having ethics is much greater.
12 comments
Totally agree with the sentiment, but can’t get over the fact that I have never read a negative travel feature in any travel press or travel blog. Now, you only have to look at tripadvisor to know that actually quite large proportion of us do have a lot to complain about on our travels.
I want to believe that is more of an editorial policy than deliberate obfuscation of reality in search of ad spend from big travel companies, but it does raise doubts.
Hi Ben.
I guess it depends what you mean by “feature”… those reviews on TA aren’t generally critiquing experiences or destinations. It’s largely hotels, and (secondarily) restaurants. Some thoughts:
1. Negative hotel reviews aren’t all that rare. See, from 3 days ago (and with a large potential ad client, too): http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/hotels/ukhotels/8889227/Radisson-Edwardian-Guildford-hotel-review.html
Now, admittedly, that has more balance than the average “WORST hotel EVAH” stuff you can find on TA. But, then, that’s probably closer to the reality anyway. I rarely see a hotel I’d give either 1 or 5 stars if I was writing on TA… and I see lots of hotels.
2. More freestyle, non-review pieces are often advice-led. We’re sometimes briefed to lead readers to the good stuff, where appropriate. However, sometimes mentioning the bad stuff is important too. To take a case I know, the “cultural city guides” in the SunTel all have a “what to avoid” box, which can be pretty blunt; e.g. on Amman:
“Sweifieh, the so-called shopping district, is chaotic, traffic-choked and deeply unpleasant. Don’t go.” (Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/middleeast/8873840/Amman-Jordan-a-cultural-city-guide.html)
3. When I write guidebooks, we’re of course advised to direct readers towards the good stuff. Space is limited, and it’s our job to use our knowledge to help readers make the most of their limited time. However, we are also instructed to point out pitfalls, and say when something is overrated (in fact, Frommer’s has an “overrated” symbol just for this). I have in the past labelled Florence’s San Lorenzo market overrated and stocked with tourist tat (which it is) and, at the height of the Da Vinci Code craze, I judged the Museo Vinciano overrated (it’s better now, but it was limited then). But, yes, editorial policy is to show readers the good stuff, and I think that’s right. If it’s crap, it doesn’t go in… and I’ve left all sorts out in the past.
4. I’m not saying journalism is perfect, far from it. Lots of the lower-grade travel journo stuff smells like junket journalism. I have had pressure to “beef up” the coverage of a hotel in a piece I submitted. I didn’t write for them again. But the ethical knowledge base is there; we all know what we should be doing. When you write for yourself, it’s doubly important to be open about it.
Good stuff Donald. I have had similar discussions with my inner demons and have come to pretty much the same conclusions. I’ve turned down offers for free laptops, bags, phones because I just don’t feel comfortable writing reviews about these sites. It’s not what I want my site to be about.
There is an increasing pressure for those with a site to become ‘brand ambassadors’, ‘media partners’ and ‘subject experts’. I put these in quotes as I’m really sure what they mean.
When I write for Sunvil, Iberostar and others they are my clients. They pay me to write. Personal anecdotes, opinion pieces perhaps, but in most cases it is far closer to copywriting than journalism. I write to meet their objectives, not mine.
I’m seeing an increasing number of content sourced from hosted trips where the disclosure is absent completely. It’s not a good trend and immediately destroys any claims of impartiality.
A debate that’s not going away any time soon…
I’ve accepted free stuff for review purposes on my site (one hotel, a coat and some shoes). I’ve disclosed that I was a guest, and reviewed honestly – perhaps too honestly for the people who gave me it. I’m comfortable with that, I’m comfortable with mentioning where I stayed in a factbox. What I won’t do is recommend a place I didn’t like or alter the copy to fit in a plug for something I got free.
There’s no way I’d agree to be some kind of brand ambassador, or agree to be used for promotional purposes. That crosses the line. I’ll accept advertising from brands I like, I’ll write good things about brands I like, I’ll give honest reviews of products – warts and all – about free stuff I’m given. But the line is crossed when I’m basically expected to pimp for someone.
Thanks for commenting, Andy. Actually, you’re an ideal example. I’m 100% clear when I’m hearing from you and when I’m reading stuff you wrote for a client. Clarity and disclosure are the key. And not just that: promotional stuff shouldn’t be on the same site as your own. Just like you arrange it.
David: I think that pretty much covers it. The basic question should be: Who am I writing this for? If that answer isn’t “my readers”, then you’re in trouble. That’s the problem with brand ambassadorship.
Advertising is a completely different issue. It’s a necessary evil, and essentially pays 99% of all travel writers, “traditional”, online, or whatever. As long as it’s clear to readers what’s an ad and what isn’t.
I have no such ethics. My big issue is whether I can get off my arse to go and pick up the f*cker…..4 hours with phone marketing people. Ouch.
ps agree with just about everything above. Love youse all.
I get stuff, stays, travel, often. I’ve rarely published a hatchet job on a gadget, though I have written to the company that provided it to say “WTF, this is junk and here’s why.” If it’s really bad, I tend to skip the review, though if there’s a good story to be written… I have called out specific flaws in reviews of gear, it’s my job to do so. I’ve been less kind to hotels, saying things like, “I don’t know why you’d choose to stay here when…”
I agree that the DMO is NOT the client unless they’re paying me. If they’ve underwritten my trip, well, that’s awesome, but if they want promotional copy, they’re going to have to hire me to write it. Usually, the stuff they pay for isn’t the story anyway, I’m not there to write about a hotel or flight, after all, I’m there for something else and I just need the hotel or flight so I can be at the place to write the story.
Said it before, the proof is in the pudding. I continue to not care who funded it if the writer gives me useful and/or excellent reading as a result.
Went along, got the sales spiel. As per T & Cs they own all your images. Thanked them and left. Not getting pics of my daughter for their ads. Pity as it’s a really nice looking phone and I was hoping, rather unethically, to give it to my Dad for his Xmas pressie…
Did you buy one in the end Donald?
Stuart: yes, I did. Only used it over Wi-Fi (micro-SIM in the post), but very impressed. Feeling it was £400 well spent… so far. But, yeah, essentially I chucked £400 away on a point of principle… but an important point, I reckon.
Pam: thanks for stopping by. I didn’t really stray into hosting and funding issues… mostly because (a) it’s complicated and (b) it’s been done… to death. The issue for me here was accepting a gift and/or essentially being a paid contractor/employee/brand ambassador for a product that’s on my reporting beat. I have *major* problems with those. If I”d wanted to review this phone, I’d have requested a loaner. (Travel, eating. drinking is a little different; you really need to *consume* those to review them.)
If I’d taken the promo unit, you’d probably never have spotted the influence of that gift in my writing. But I’m pretty certain it’d be there. Writers have to be ethical enough to say no… and that’s *even more* so for independent writers. You don’t have a century or so of brand trust to draw on, as nationals, magazines, etc. do.
Pam:
> Usually, the stuff they pay for isn’t the story anyway, I’m not there to write about a hotel or flight, after all, I’m there for something else and I just need the hotel or flight so I can be at the place to write the story.
100% true that.
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