I want to make it very clear that Norman Oder did not suggest NEVER SUGGESTED that the Blogs Aloud excerpts—and the panelists—were chosen by Absolut. I know that Oder is dedicated to accuracy and I fully respect that. I am sincerely sorry that I did not issue this full correction earlier. I’ll let Norman Oder speak for himself:
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.
If you signed your name, you might be a trifle more responsible in your accusations, right?
(For the record, I neither asked nor expected Louise to post my comment as a separate post. All i wanted was the original error corrected.)
I’ve read every letter of Norman’s coverage of the issue – and the coverage elsewhere. Norman may not have accused, but he definitely SUGGESTED and IMPLIED. He’s also full of shit, and has been bandying about his self-righteous indignation like a blunt club. He brought up issues like the FTC regulation, which doesn’t apply for even a second, and started making all sorts of accusations, explicit and implicit. His reporting was irresponsible, and drew the eye of the mainstream media – always looking for a way to cast bloggers as amateurs and ethically lacking. People can think whatever they like of Absolut’s involvement, but in all my years at J-school and all the ethics classes I sat through, there was nothing done in the deal that appeared unethical or illegal. It’s time to stop paying attention to this story, and its weenie protagonist, Norman Oder.