Tuesday - January 25, 2005

Bloggers And Ethics

I’m not sure how I feel about this issue of ethics and blogging.  For example, if the RNC were to pay us to support overturning Roe vs. Wade I do not think I need to tell the reading audience.  First of all, you’d come to expect we’d support something like that or you’d notice an overabundance of postings about the subject and might wonder what’s going on. In either case, what harm is done?

If ABC or the DNC were to pay us to support Clinton’s attempts to get a third term, we’d tell them to go pack sand.  Until they offered us LOTS of money at which point we “might” do it.  (Hey, EVERYONE has a price.) Again, you, the readers, would not be told but you’d notice right away that either we were being satirical as hell or if you thought we were serious you’d not read us anymore.  So what harm is done?

Now, what if we were paid to write “false” stuff.  Lies about social security?  Or lies about welfare reform?  Or lies about voter disenfranchisement?  Or that Condi Rice was having a secret affair with a married senator?  And what if we never told you about it, never disclosed we were being paid for it and then did the writing?  Again, what harm is done?

At our level, little to none.

But................what if our blog had an “audience” of over 1,000,000 hits a day?

Would it become a serious issue then?.  If we had that much “pull” imagine the havoc we could wreak.

Yet somehow I am not sure that we need to LEGISLATE what bloggers should or should not do.  This is actually being considered right now.  Read about it here. It’s like the internet tax.  States want it because of the revenue.  We don’t because of the added cost. Retailers don’t want it as shoppers would disappear from their sites.

Bloggers don’t want it because it takes away our first amendment right to free speech.  Assholes like those above want it because the concept of “freedom” bothers them.  Bureacrats and lawyers want it because it gives them something else with which to control you and something to sue someone over.

Forcing us to sign some code of conduct is anathema to what blogging represents.  The American public is becoming more savvy.  They know they need to get information from more than one source now since the people we trusted to be honest and ethical (and have ethics rules to abide by) so casually threw them all away the past few years with their boot-licking ass sucking support of the democratic party.

This is weird territory to be getting into but into it we must go.

I have no idea where we will be 10 years from now and have nightmarish visions of every news organization being bought out by one entity or another.

Then what?

Excuse me, I think it’s the DNC at the door.

Go ahead, tell us what you think. 

Posted by Ranting Right Wing Howler     on 01/25/2005 at 07:09 AM   
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