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A Luxurious Junket For Bloggers

Bloggers of all stripes love to bloviate these days about public officials who accepted money or luxurious treatment from corrupt lobbyist Jack Abramoff in his attempt to curry government favor for his clients. But that doesn't mean bloggers are above accepting pampering by people with an agenda.

For the latest evidence, check the list of 25 bloggers who are headed to Amsterdam next month courtesy of Holland.com, the Internet presence of the Netherlands Board of Tourism and Conventions, and the advertising firm BlogAds. Americablog, Ezra Klein, Outside the Beltway, Pandagon and TalkLeft are among the public-affairs-oriented blogs that will be represented on the weeklong junket.

A disclosure statement at Bloggers in Amsterdam provides the details: free air travel, five nights in a choice of two five-star hotels, and a card that will get them free transportation, free entrance into Amsterdam museums and restaurant discounts. In return, the government of Netherlands gets premium advertising space on the participating blogs for one month, as well as the right to interview the bloggers after the trip and potentially use their comments in online or offline promotions.

Bloggers no doubt will justify the trip by highlighting the transparency of the junket. For one year, they must link to the Bloggers in Amsterdam disclosure statement, which itself notes the transparency "mantra."

But curiously, the bloggers just started talking about the trip yesterday -- and not all of them are doing so yet. If they really wanted to be transparent, why didn't the bloggers tell their readers about the trip when the invitation was extended?

What's more, transparency is not sufficient justification for media outlets -- and that's what blogs want the U.S. government to call them -- to accept favors from an agency with an agenda. Bloggers rightly maligned columnists Armstrong Williams and Doug Bandow for taking money from the Bush administration and Abramoff. Now some of the them are guilty of similar arrangements with the government of Netherlands, and they deserve the same scorn.

No one who makes the trip is compelled to write one word, good or bad, about Amsterdam, and maybe some bloggers will return home and say nasty things about the place. But somehow I doubt they will.

Posted by | 12:45 PM

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Comments

From what I was told in prior years this program was directed at journalists.

Amazingly I missed all the articles about these journalists.

and, no, I'm not going to holland.

Atrios | 01.27.06 01:50 AM

Atrios: I don't know anything about programs in prior years being directed at journalists, but if I had been a media critic at the time and was aware of them, I would have been just as critical of their behavior.

My point is that citizen journalists are just as susceptible to corrupting influences as professional journalists. Transparency that consists of saying, "Hey, somebody is trying to buy a good word from me; you decide for yourself whether it worked," simply is not good enough.

In this case, for instance, it's a safe bet that if the Netherlands' tourism board ends up using any praise from bloggers in its online or offline promotions, they won't be telling their audiences about the favors bestowed on those bloggers.

Also, if citizen journalists engage in the kind of behavior for which they condemn their professional colleagues, then they are hypocrites.

Danny | 01.27.06 09:00 AM

Those of us who are actually Amsterdam bloggers are pretty pissed off about this, though I would like to make it very clear that we're not pissed off at those invited, just the tourist board.

Republic of Palau | 01.27.06 09:29 AM

Please note that I, a blogger, would refuse to accept the Amsterdam junket.

However, if Fiji or Hawaii or the Virgin Islands offers one, or Colorado, well...

Bill Hobbs | 01.27.06 10:07 AM

You're being really silly.

As long as they disclose the trip if they talk about Amsterdam, I don't see that there's the slightest ethical conflict involved.

Also, Atrios is exactly right. When this was pitched to me (and I chose not to go), I was told this was something done in year's past for journalists and now they're extending the policy to bloggers.

John Hawkins | 01.27.06 10:45 AM

If Williams and Bandow had disclosed their arrangements, there would have been no ethical problem. Ditto the bloggers. Do you really think that journalist shouldn't have conflicts of interest at all, even if they're disclosed? Doesn't that seem a bit, er, impossible?

John Tabin | 01.27.06 11:07 AM

How is this different than the same agency placing paid advertising written by their own flacks on said blogs?

And how is it different from a group of by-invitation-only bloggers joining the PJM and allowing them to place ads on their blogs over which they have absolutely no say-so?

Bloggers aren't public servants, they are individuals providing a service to which the public is invited, so even if the invitation came with a quid pro quo that they blog positively about the trip, there would be nothing wrong with that arrangement either.

tefta | 01.27.06 11:17 AM

Now, if some blogger took this opportunity to look into street-level reaction to Van Gough's murder or the state and future of Islamofascism in the Netherlands it would certainly be money well spent.

submandave | 01.27.06 11:22 AM

It was indeed reserved for journalists in the past.

Sebastian Paauw, Internet manager for the tourism board, said the initiative represents an extension of a long-standing pattern of sending mainstream journalists on trips. "Normally we send a lot of journalists to the Netherlands. We make full itineraries for them, and send them to Holland and show them around," said Paauw. "We're pretty convinced that Amsterdam is a good product. You can't send it to the bloggers to write about it, so we sent the bloggers to Amsterdam."

TalkLeft | 01.27.06 01:01 PM

This is the same as almost all reviews. We see auto reviews in non-car magazines. "Here, come spend a weekend in California at a 5 star hotel, and drive this car out in the beautiful backcountry. Then write whatever you want" Suuuuure whatever you want.

Yes it's not new. But just because some journalists do this, doesn't make it ok. And anyone that criticizes the media should certainly not be a part of something like this.

People say bloggers "are not public servants" but that's just it: many hold themselves out to be. Many want to be considered journalists. If any want that, then they should not be on that trip. There are other kinds of bloggers; for those other kinds it's probably ok to go. But not someone whose website is supposed to be journalism: reporting or critiquing news. (I'm not talking about anyone in particular I'm being hypothetical).

About it being "impossible" for there not to be conflicts of interest. Well yes of course, but that doesn't mean we throw our hands in the air and give up even trying.

One more thing: does this all (or most) expense paid trip count as income? heh.

Pluto's Dad | 01.27.06 01:35 PM

Submandave said : Now, if some blogger took this opportunity to look into street-level reaction to Van Gough's murder or the state and future of Islamofascism in the Netherlands it would certainly be money well spent.

culturekitchen was one of the first blogs to report on the murder of Theo Van Gogh :

Theo Van Gogh Shot, Killed

I will indeed be following up on this case, hopefully with some interviews. I will also be blogging about health care in the red light district and catching up with some art colleagues that are out there.

liza | 01.27.06 02:17 PM

Hey, want some free candy?

Have fun over there, don't get drunk with Joran Van Der Sloot.

Wintermute | 01.27.06 05:59 PM

"Bloggers of all stripes love to bloviate these days about public officials who accepted money or luxurious treatment from corrupt lobbyist Jack Abramoff in his attempt to curry government favor for his clients. But that doesn't mean bloggers are above accepting pampering by people with an agenda."

Does this mean that if I were an ethical blogger, and refused gifts like that, you would start paying me taxes?

Branko Collin | 01.27.06 08:32 PM

In what way is saying, "Hey, somebody is trying to buy a good word from me; you decide for yourself whether it worked" not good enough? Why the hell not? Indeed, how much more transparent can you get?

Sorry, but I continue to see this sort of thing as a great thing, something to be applauded and encouraged.

No, I wasn't invited to the junket. I've never been invited to any junket. Would I accept such an offer? Yep, no problem, at all at all. And I'd happily tell my readers all about it.

Would I trust a blogger who refused such a thing due to his "ethics?" Hell no. Quite the opposite. I'd wonder why he was blowing that kind of smoke.

It reminds me of claiming that it's unethical to accept a speaker's free, or draw a paycheck, or accept book royalties. People don't care about this stuff, they care if they're being lied to, and they can tell when they're being fed a line of bull.

Dean Esmay | 01.28.06 08:43 AM

Travel writers are offered free trips from tourism boards all the time. I think those are the "journalists" who've been invited in the past. And yeah, the legit ones (Conde Nast, for example) don't take the free trips.

Roxanne | 01.28.06 10:19 AM

Maybe the bloggers are just starting to talk about it now because maybe they just decided that they're going to take the trip. I have no problem with bloggers, freelancers or even mainstream journalists going on junkets who otherwise couldn't afford to go on these trips as long as there is disclosure and no editorial quid pro quo, which is the distinction between the bloggers trip and the deals Armstrong Williams and other people made with the administration and lobbyists where certain kind of stories and coverage were expected. If the bloggers don't like the service on KLM, hate Amsterdam, or have a car broken into around the corner from the American consulate like I did on my last trip; I'm sure we'll hear about it in great detail.

Folks from the well funded travel magazines and big time media outlets like The New York Times and the networks should pay their own way. However what should freelancers and journalists who work for independent non-commercial outlets, the Black press, the weeklies and other cash poor media organizations do when offered a fully paid trip to Cuba, Saudi Arabia, China, the political conventions, policy sessions at the White House, the Vatican, the House of Commons or other expensive and far away places? If you say no to the sponsorship, you might miss out on the story of a lifetime and the media outlet or freelancer across town may get the scoop. Also travel, especially outside the country provides reporters and editors perspectives of people beyond the community where they work and report; but sadly only 20 percent of Americans have passports, and that includes journalists who aren't foreign correspondents. Many reporters and editors of past generations came to newspapers from the military where they spent time in another part of the world or after a stint as a foreign corrrespondent. With fewer veterans going into journalism and US news organizations closing foreign bureaus, you'll find a growing number of folks in the newsroom who have never been out of state, let alone out of the country. I wonder if rules requiring newspaper travel section reporters to pay their own way has sharply reduced the number of travel writers, with many papers simply opting to run pieces written by convention and visitors bureaus accompanied with a "advertisement" disclaimer, rather that allow a staff person or freelancer to take a sponsored travel trip?

Finally, we're about to see the biggest annual media junket on the planet, the Super Bowl. First of all, most media that cover the Super Bowl could pay the face value price of a game ticket (as well as the price of regular season and playoff tickets). Although the media has to pay their travel cost to the game and for (discount) hotel rooms, after reporters get their media credentials, it's an endless parade of freebies; invites to A-list parties, free rent-a-cars, haircuts, rounds of golf at top country clubs, (well not this year) manicures, expensive swag in giant goodie bags and enough food and booze to feed a small developing country. All sponsored by some corporation looking to get their name mentioned, all free to anyone with a press credential. How is this different from a blogger accepting a free trip to Amsterdam?

harryo | 01.28.06 03:56 PM

it's called "bartering."

instead of paying cash for blogad space (nothing shady about buying blogads), they are trading their commodity - travel - for the bloggers' commodity - ad placement.

Cedwyn | 01.29.06 04:57 AM

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