Looks like Brownstoner and Atlantic Yards Report are having a field day trashing last night’s Blogfest and me. Brownstoner wasn’t even there. He didn’t go on principle and is basing his reporting on Norman Oder’s blog post. Here Brownstoner really gives it to me:
An email we received a few weeks ago described a program whereby bloggers would be given a Flip video camera and some other Absolut swag in return for blogging and tweeting about the new brand of vodka. A number have done so and we’ve yet to see a single instance of disclosure; nor has the event’s organizer, Louise Crawford of Only The Blog Knows Brooklyn, been forthcoming about the backroom deals. (Here‘s where she should have mentioned the payola deal.) This wasn’t just a matter of a company donating some booze and getting to hang their banner in return; there’s nothing underhanded about that. It was a full-fledged sell-out with paid-for but undisclosed editorial pimping.
Brownstoner doesn’t think I adequately disclosed that Absolut gave me a bottle of vodka and a Flip camera in return for a posting about the stoop life. Obviously Brownstoner isn’t against sponsorship or advertising but “promotional blog posts and tweets for remumeration that are not identified as such.”
I couldn’t agree with him more.
I NEVER posted or twittered a promotional blog post about Absolut. Nor do I plan to. Yes, I posted about Blogfest but always mentioning that the event was sponsored by Absolut.
The piece I wrote that appears on my blog and on Absolut’s Facebook page is about my definition of the stoop life. It’s a moody piece about life on Third Street, watching my kids grow and hearing the second plane hit the second tower on 9/11.
I never mention anything about Absolut in the story. In the intro I wrote:
When Absolut Vodka, in honor of the release of Absolut Brooklyn and their collaboration with the Brooklyn Blogfest, asked me to write a post for my blog about the stoop life, this is what came to mind…
Maybe I should have been more specific about the Flip camera and the bottle of vodka but I still wasn’t writing anything about the vodka (or even the event).
I have to admit I wear a lot of hats these days and the last few months have been consumed with organizing Blogfest, a broken ankle and a root canal (and working, being a mom and all the rest). If I was remiss about disclosing my getting a $129.99 Flip camera on Monday, June 7, 2010 I apologize for any confusion that might have caused.
As to the $29.99 Vodka bottle that came a couple of weeks ago: Hugh took a sip but I didn’t. I haven’t been in the mood for vodka lately. In fact, I’m not much of a vodka drinker (more of a white wine person).
In the swirl of activity that went into the Blogfest planning I barely paid any attention to the “Ask Letter” they sent and the “swag” items they were giving out. I don’t feel obligated to do anything on their behalf. I see how it could be miscontrued as payola but that was the last thing on my mind. I know that might have been careless but I was really busy planning Blogfest.
One more thing: Norman Oder’s accusation that the bloggers on the panel and those included in the Blogs Aloud section were chosen by Absolut is patently ridiculous. Norman Oder never suggested that the panelists and those included in the Blogs Aloud section were chosen by Absolut. I misunderstood. The following bloggers are good writers and that’s why they were included in Blogs Aloud: Luna Park Gazette, Brooklyn Mabel, A Year in the Park, The Murder Book, The Audacity of Pope, Clinton Hill Chill, Bed Stuy Banana, Old First, Miss Masala, Brooklynometry, The Writer and the Wanderer, Pardon Me for Asking, A Cake Bakes in Brooklyn, Found in Brooklyn, A Brooklyn Bachelor, Callalillie, The City Birder.
Finally, I agree that having a sponsor at Blogfest commercialized the event. It was a gamble that I was willing to take. I also knew that I would learn a lot from the experience. Whether or not it was a good choice remains to be seen. But it was an adventure and I’m always up for one of those.
–Louise Crawford
This is the fifth time in two days–two emails, three comments–I’ve had to point out that you *invented* this sentence: “Norman Oder’s accusation that the bloggers on the panel and those included in the Blogs Aloud section were chosen by Absolut is patently ridiculous.”
I never made that accusation.
In the Times’s CityRoom blog, you said “I make every effort to attribute quotes accurately and not misrepresent people’s point of view” and “I love it when people fact-check me or send me typos. That’s a big help because I’m working very fast and mistakes do get made.”
Making such corrections–especially when the underlying error has no basis in fact–is not just a professional obligation. It’s a legal one.
Can’t we all just get along?? Look, we’re a blogging community. Jon and Louise, you go back, don’t you? Cut the shit!
The way I see it is that the Blogfest is a great way to network with other bloggers. I attended as a newbie back in the day and made some connections and now I’m happy to pass along advice to those just launching blogs. Absolut and Spike Lee have nothing to do with it.
I had a great time the other night. Thanks for all of your hard work, Louise! It does not go unappreciated.
For the gazzillionth time, we’re not critical of the fact that the event was sponsored at all. The way Absolut tried to coerce bloggers, many of them small bloggers earning little or no income from their blogs, is what we were critical about. Our only point, and it’s a narrow but very important one, is that any blogger who played ball with Absolut needed to disclose it in some way. Failure to do so makes readers distrust the entire medium, and that hurts all of us. In fact, it’s serious enough that the FTC put rules into effect that year that require certain bloggers to reveal when they’ve received items for free. This particular instance may not have met the legal standard of that rule, but it’s the court of public opinion that matters most. Anyway, we don’t need to beat this dead horse any more. Hopefully the Blogfest will emerge bigger, stronger and more legitimate from this learning experience next year. Not that we’ll be holding our breath for an invite or anything…
Commenting negatively because an event is sponsored seems disingenuous to me. Considering that many of the large blogs (not all!) have a host of sponsors themselves, it’s pretty ironic. But maybe that was the point? (I’m so ironic even though I make a pretty decent living off my blog!)
Selling out isn’t so bad. If I could have made money without writing about stuff I didn’t care about, I would have put some ads on BVIB. But the irony, of course, is that the truly interesting neighborhoods (no offense to PS) don’t have the cash to sponsor their own blogs. Apparently, they don’t have the people with the time to write them either.
Will more people in Sunset Park please step up? You are needed!
I’ve updated and corrected my post based on Louise’s statement to me that she chose the the blogs for the shout-out.
My speculation was not unfounded. It was in the letter from Absolut.
By contrast, the accusation that I said the bloggers on the panel and in the Blogs Aloud section were chosen by Absolut is completely unfounded.
No, that’s not true. My blog was shouted out, but I was not an Absolut partner and I was not promised a special call-out as a key collaborator during the Fifth Annual Brooklyn Blogfest on June 8.
Norman, I think we’ve met because of DDDB. But I don’t understand why you are making these accusations which are not true.
I agree. An accusation that the bloggers on the panel and those included in the Blogs Aloud section were chosen by Absolut would be patently ridiculous.
I didn’t make that accusation. Here’s what I wrote:
http://atlanticyardsreport.blogspot.com/2010/06/blogfest-meets-shillfest-as-spike-lee.html
And, instead of the “Shout-Out,” in which new bloggers got to announce their blogs, there was instead a dramatic announcement–by an actor who’d participated in an earlier dramatic reading of blog post excerpts–of several blogs.
Many were established blogs, not new ones. How were they chosen? Unclear, but I’d bet they were those Absolut partners who were promised a “Special call-out as a key collaborator during the Fifth Annual Brooklyn Blogfest on June 8.”