You’ve probably heard about Microsoft giving away laptops preloaded with Vista to select bloggers, with the hope (but not requirement) that they will review them. You’ve also probably heard all the backlash, up to and including many other bloggers accusing anyone who accepts the free laptops as basically losing any credibility / journalistic integrity.
I thought I’d briefly offer my take on the whole thing, and see what everyone else thinks. Basically, I think it’s a pretty wise move to motivate more talk about Vista from a lot of people who would probably otherwise not buy it. As for the implication that anyone accepting a free laptop is no longer a credible source for tech reporting, I don’t quite buy it.
Will they write a review they otherwise probably wouldn’t have? Most likely. Will that opinion and review be influenced by the fact that they received a free laptop? Depends on the integrity of the writer, not the fact that they were given a gift. There are no pre-conditions imposed on the acceptance of the laptops; they can write negative reviews or not write a review at all if they choose.
The error in logic I see with the accusation that those bloggers who accept the gift should no longer be considered honest, unbiased sources is that the gift does not make them unethical in and of itself. If you believe that the opinions of the author of the blog really are subject to this kind of bribery, then it makes no difference whether they accept the gift or not, because you’ve already decided you don’t trust their integrity, because you believe that they would allow that to influence their opinion or review. If that is the case, you have no way of knowing what other gifts/bribes they have been given that they haven’t disclosed, so you may as well stop reading them whether they accept the laptops or not, because you’ve already determined that they don’t have integrity. If, on the other hand, you believe (and think it’s important) that they do currently adhere to a high standard of honesty in their writings, then why would they not continue to do so going forward?
Basically, my take on the bashing of this so far is that it’s mostly a bunch of sour grapes from bloggers who either didn’t get the offer or are so biased themselves already against Microsoft that they will always criticize pretty much everything they do regardless of whether it’s actually “good”, “evil”, or neutral.
4 Comments
Yeah, I agree.
for some reason I think of it being irrisponsible to accept gifts to review products but not technology items. My reasoning may be because I’ve accepted a few things and I have reviewed them on my blog but I’m extremely honest and some items I haven’t even written about. One example, the Sprint phone with 6 months of free service that I had, I never reviewed it. But I think the main reason would be that tech changes so often.
As for other journalism, accepting gifts like a car wouldn’t be fair.
Publishers send me books to review. If I don’t like the book, I generally don’t review it. They are budgeted to send review copies. Same with music. I agree with Jared that it has everything to do with the journalist’s personal integrity.
Actually, I guess it’s professional integrity.