According the to AFL-CIO blog, Barbaro's story will detail "the corporate behemoth's attempts to buy good PR by paying bloggers to write sympathetically about the world's largest employer of low-wage workers."
Wal-Mart is ahead of pack in recognizing the importance of blogs. Yes, I'm one of those bloggers who has received news tips from sources close to Wal-Mart. As a medium-sized blog, I'm interested in finding stories that aren't well-reported. How did they find me? They came across a Marathon Pundit blog entry they liked.
The demonization of Wal-Mart by unions and other leftists reminds me of "Bush derangement syndrome," the irrational hatred that goes far beyond simple opposition to the president.
Wal-Mart supplies products at an inexpensive prices. Since the poor benefits the most from cheap goods, Wal-Mart is helping those at the low-end of the economic pyramid.
Yes, I buy stuff from Wal-Mart--Look for me at the Niles, Illinois location on Touhy Avenue.
Oh, back to Barbaro's New York Times story. John McAdams of the Marquette Warrior blog has posts upon posts about it.
I have a hunch that Barbaro is a little jealous of the bloggers. From MSNBC's Clicked blog:
New York Times reporter Michael Barbaro is being scooped by bloggers on his own story. Apparently he's working on a piece about Wal-Mart writing directly to supportive bloggers with more pro-Wal-Mart tid bits and stories, so he's contacting some of the bloggers on Wal-Mart's mailing list. One of the bloggers in question pre-empts the Times article with transparency of what Wal-Mart has been sending. It's an interesting tactic by Wal-Mart. I wonder how many other companies do the same. I get occasional mail from Firefox and the odd book publicist.
Crazy Politico offers more insight:
After I posted someone from the NY Times visited my site, finding it via a Technorati search. Getting scooped on the Scott comments from a bunch of bloggers in Arkansas and Virginia couldn't be sitting well with the folks in New York (who use a New Jersey ISP). I'll assume the someone was Mr. Barbaro, as I received an e-mail from him a short time later, as did other bloggers, like Arkansas Family Coalition.
I am very intrigued by your postings about my story today in The New York Times (about Lee Scott, of Wal-Mart) and wanted to chat with you if you have a moment. Can you give me a call or give me a number where I might reach you?
Many thanks,
Michael Barbaro
The New York Times
I'm not one of the bloggers whom Barbaro contacted. I've only posted a few items on Wal-Mart, besides, my mysterious problems with Technorati probably prevented Marathon Pundit from being "outed" by Barbaro.
Oh, I've not received a dime from Wal-Mart, nor any free trips, gift cards, not even a blue Wal-Mart vest.
But gee whiz...just where did that "solid tip" on this story come from?
I'll leave the last words to Tula Connell of the previously mentioned AFL-CIO blog:
...Marquette Warrior, a blog sympathetic to Wal-Mart and apparently on Barbaro's list of paid bloggers. The blog, run and written by John McAdams, is not officially associated with Marquette University-a good thing, because he stands against most issues the Jesuit-based university (my alma mater) supports, seemingly even free speech.
The last refuge of the leftist is classifying ideas they don't agree with as being against free speech.
UPDATE 7:30PM CST: Brian at Iowa Voice has a similar post. He didn't get paid, either.
UPDATE 8:10 PM CST: I just received an e-mail from Crazy Politico. On the money issue, "Second verse, same as the first." Nada.
UPDATE 8:30PM CST:James Joyner of Outside the Beltway. Not paid.
Once again, the story hasn't come out yet. I sent my post to Ms. Connell of the AFL-CIO blog, who, as I quoted above, made the claim about "the corporate behemoth's attempts to buy good PR by paying bloggers to write sympathetically about the world's largest employer of low-wage workers."
UPDATE 9:15PM: Here is the January Marathon Pundit post that attracted the attention of Wal-Mart's PR firm.
And Crazy Politico has a new post tonight about his role in tomorrow's New York Times story. And yes, Bob, it is okay to talk to the New York Times! Your names is not mud in the blogosphere.
Technorati tags: Wal-Mart WalMart Media Bias blogs Technorati AFL-CIO Union
No comments:
Post a Comment