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Welcome to the liveblog of the BlogHer Food '10 panel "Values - Blogger Ethics: What are your rights and responsibilities, especially in a post-FTC Guidelines world?."
Elisa Camahort Page BlogHer cofounder
Brooke Burton of FoodWoolf, co-author of Food Blog Code of Ethics
Kathy Strahs of Panini Happy
Carolyn Jung of Food Gal
ELISA- Carolyn, you come from traditional journalist background but you're also very committed blogger. Tell us about the halcyon days when there was less gray area and less citizen participation in writing about food?
CAROLYN - I was a career newspaper reporter. The newspaper industry has gone through tremendous dramatic changes and a lot of us have had to reinvent ourselves. We've been in the mentality that you write and report something, give it to your editor, gets copy edited by another editor, goes into a paper, the paper has ads sold by another department and the two never mix. When I started blogging that went out of the window. I am now my own HR, Marketing, Finance, Sales department. There was a big mindshift from that. As a reporter I got many things for free - fabulous trips to food festivals, $500 mixers, and I would say no and it pained me but those were the ethics of the paper. Now I juggle many different viewpoints because of my situation. As a freelancer I work for several online and print publications; each of them has its own set of guidelines -- not even across mediums but publication by publication.
ELISA - Have mags already been different from newspapers?
CAROLYN - Yes. Goody bags for mag writers at Fashion Week were huge and filled with clothes; goody bags for newspaper reporters were tiny because they weren't allowed to accept anything. So yes, mags always operated differently but all mags are different. And as a blogger I can decide now, which was hard. So now I decide - if I accept this, does it have intrinsic value? Will it teach my readers something of value?
ELISA - If you went to a restaurant or trip before, the paper reimbursed you. It's all about who's paying.
CAROLYN - I wasn't a critic, my face could be known and I interacted with chefs, etc, so I went to restaurant openings. But I always paid for something. Hosted media dinners -- I would ask to get some kind of check and leave a minimal amount plus generous tip, which the paper would reimburse me for.
ELISA - BlogHer 06 had a media lunch, the print papers came and paid for their lunch.
CAROLYN - Those rules have relaxed recently because print pubs are hurting so much. Advertising isn't supporting, your budgets are cut, you can't reimburse as much as you want.
ELISA - Does a comp subconsciously influence us?
CAROLYN - Yes, we're all nice people and when people are kind to you, you want to be kind back. I desperately try to fight that because of my training in objectivity. I tell compers up front I'm willing to try it but I won't guarantee that I'll write about it, and if I do write it I'm going to be honest about it. For the most part, people are cognizant and open to that. They want to learn too.
COMMENT - STEPHANIE O'Dea of A Year in Slow Cooking: If I don't like it, I won't write about it.
CAROLYN - In terms of restaurant reviews, the way they operate is that if they go to a mom and pop place and it's horrible they don't want to put a family out of work. If it's chain or high profile, they'll write about how bad it is with no qualms.
ELISA - The perception is that traditional journalists would never say "I won't write that" -- interesting.
CAROLYN - If it's mostly positive except for some few things, they'll write it. But if it's small and bad, why do that to them. Michael Bauer gave a 0-star review recently to the huge superexpensive chain Morton's Steakhouse - fair game. He roasted it.
COMMENT: Anne-Marie - to the criticism that bloggers always write positive, I go out of my way to point out the things I don't like. My community has pressured me a little to come out with negativity in my reviews. I don't take products that I don't generally like though.
ELISA - next up is Brooke at Food Woolf who pitched a panel about ethnics for last year. She is behind the Food Blog Code of Ethics. What's your
