By Fawn Renee

Freedom of the press is a touchy subject in a world laden with immorality. Journalists are held to a higher standard today than ever before, as the powers that be seek to control what’s fed to the public, usually for their interest and theirs alone. For years, bloggers haven’t been held to the same ethical standard as journalists (and technically still aren’t), but FTC is seeking to change that- for better or worse.

In the first revision to its guidelines in over two decades, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) seeks to implement new rules that would require bloggers to divulge any payments or gifts they may have received as it pertains to the reviewing and/or advertising of a product or service. Yeah, that sure worked for the record companies- not. On the surface, this attempt at holding those that consider themselves writers accountable for the things they write, and monitoring major companies that are employing this payola system sounds like an excellent idea, but things aren’t always what they seem.

There are a few disconcerting issues with this new rule. The first, and most important, is that it infringes upon the free speech of bloggers.  Part of the appeal of consuming and producing blogs is the ability to uninhibitedlyview and voice one’s opinions. Whether a blogger’s opinions have been shaped by others’ opinions, bribes, or personal experiences is, or should be, a non-issue. But by implementing this new rule to the writer guidelines, the FTC is affirming that the source of a blogger’s opinions is, in fact, an issue. But an issue for whom? Does the government really care about the opinions of countless, irrelevant bloggers (With all due respect to bloggers, the government doesn’t give a shit about you), as it pertains to that brand new iPhone? No, but what they do care about is what they can control, and blogging has been hands off for quite some time, so this seems like the perfect avenue for the government to ease its way in. So it’s a good idea for bloggers to take heed and stay on the up and up with regard to reviews and advertisement of products and services, because if the government senses any static coming from your blog that may negatively affecting them or their agenda, all they have to do to shut you down is catch you slippin’.

The effects of the FTC’s updated writing guidelines not only stifle bloggers creatively, but also financially. The extra bandwidth required to report the relationship with company whose products they advertise and/or review could be excessive, especially for a large site. It may seem like it would only affect smaller sites that wouldn’t necessary have the money or resources to accommodate the extra bandwidth, but the larger blogs will be affected on a much larger scale.  For a technology blog as large as CNET.com to provide space to document and report every piece of equipment they review is almost absurd; what’s more absurd is the amount of money that will cost them.

But this is all done under the guise of protecting consumers from being misled by “professionals” and imposing integrity among those “professionals.” The good news for the little blogs is that while the government is focused on the larger blogs that are tied up in revenue and sponsorship from these influential companies, the smaller blogs might reap the benefits of some extra attention from those companies, since they fly below the radar. The bad news for the larger blogs is that all the politicking with Sony, Samsung, Apple and other companies will have a few new spectators.

Everyone’s affected by this new ruling, some more drastically than others. It should be noted, though, that the FTC’s efforts at censorship and accountability aren’t entirely futile. Even with ulterior motives at hand, the subsequent result of blogger and company liability is a win-win for consumers. No longer are they being duped, at least not entirely. And as disturbing as it is, bloggers have a large voice in the world of news and entertainment, a position they struggled to attain. Now that they’ve gotten the attention of the government they should be held to the same standard, ethically, as all writers claiming to be professional and knowledgeable. So, clap for ‘em! We’ll see how badly they want to be recognized now.

Follow  Fawn Renee on Twitter @ http://twitter.com/fawnrenee

Follow Us on Twitter @ http://twitter.com/planetill

Join Us on the Planet Ill Facebook Group for more discussion

Check out Planet Ill’s page on Essence.com

Follow us on Networked Blogs