Political spinning rife with bloggers

0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, Nov 7, 2006 | by Julia Scott

Edelman, one of the biggest PR firms in the U.S., has made no such commitment to transparency. According to the New York Times, the firm, which represents Wal-Mart, regularly sends "exclusive" news tidbits about the retailer's good deeds to a stable of bloggers in an effort to burnish its tarnished public image. The bloggers are known to support the company's practices but are not paid for their services. When they post the information online, however, they often do so without attribution.

As widespread as it is, some question the practice's real effectiveness as compared to other, more traditional types of advocacy and brand marketing.

"Most of the blogs tend to be communities of some sort, and it's hard to just blow in there and establish yourself as a voice," said Henry Farrell, an assistant professor in the political science department at George Washington University, and a founding member of the popular academic blog Crooked Timber. "At a local level, I could see these things being effective. But if somebody comes in from outside, it's trickier to invade.

"This kind of thing goes along with the nature of the medium," added Farrell. "I don't know that this problem is any different from other problems that face our democracy."

Finding a real solution will be tough. Someone pushing the same product repeatedly will eventually arouse suspicion, but not everyone is savvy enough to discern between a sponsored political opinion and an authentic one, said Farrell.

"I'd like to see a law on disclosure, but it would be very difficult to draft," he said.

Currently, blog moderators are faced with most of the responsibility to police their sites for interlopers. But there was no moderator on hand to screen the Pacifica e-mail list before Rosenstein began investigating "Jimmy" and "Susan."

"I think people need to have a healthy dose of skepticism when reading any kind of online Web site, whether it's a local e-mail list or a well-known blog," said Rosenstein. "On the surface, it's not any different than meeting new people, and spending time 'sizing them up' before trusting what they say."

Staff writer Julia Scott can be reached at (650) 348-4340 or at jscott@sanmateocountytimes.com.