Thursday April 10, 2008
Bloggers to go by own rules
PETALING JAYA: Bloggers, including those who are paid to write product reviews, should set their own standards of ethics.
This is the view of at least three young bloggers – Paul Tan (paultan.org), Kimberly Low (kimberlycun.com), and Lim Su Ann (quaintly.net) – who do product reviews from time to time.
They say that rules should not be imposed on them, but each blogger should set their personal guidelines.
Tan, who blogs mostly on the automotive industry, claimed that he does not get paid for reviews, while Low and Lim admitted that they accepted payments from clients.
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The future: Raslan giving an insight to the audience of how The Star is evolving from the old media to the new in Petaling Jaya. |
The trio were speaking at the forum on Does New Media Influence The Way We Communicate Today?
Lim said while she receives payments and her clients have the final say on her product reviews.
“Just because we are paid does not mean we should lie. Like journalists, we have (personal) rules and ethics to adhere to.
“Clients have the final say. For example, they might not like the word “cheap” used on their product, and ask if it can be changed to “affordable”. But we won’t change the review totally to sound like a press release – otherwise we won’t post it,” she said.
Low concurred, saying that her reviews are “dictated to a certain degree on how we write and review.”
Later, The Star Online senior editor Raslan Sharif gave an insight on how The Star is evolving from the old media to the new, while All Malaysian Bloggers Project editor Michael Fredericks spoke about the blog directory set up in May last year to bridge bloggers with clients and readers.
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