Today, I read with interest, the following story in the Boston Post...
Political bloggers fear publicists will infiltrate sites
WASHINGTON -- Erick Erickson has been running the popular blog Redstate.com long enough to know what his readers' postings sound like: red-meat conservative rhetoric served up with a little dash of populist anger.
So when postings from an unknown writer on the site showed up praising Senator John McCain -- one of the site's least-popular Republicans for his deviations from hard-core conservative orthodoxy -- Erickson thought he smelled a rat.
Or maybe a sock puppet, shill, or a troll -- Web slang for bloggers who pretend to be grass-roots political commentators but instead are paid public relations agents.
The author of the pro-McCain articles on Redstate.com, Erickson determined after a Google search, was a Michigan political operative whose firm worked for McCain's political action committee.
With big corporations now hiring public relations firms to pay fake bloggers to plant favorable opinions of the businesses online, many political bloggers are concerned that candidates, too, will hire people to pretend to be grass-roots citizens expressing views. [more]
The troubling part is that the political operative decided to use deception / anonymity as part of his suite of tactics. Of course this isn't anything new and, in fact even the media have been caught in the act. Be that as it
may, my point is this: If you have the courage of your convictions, then you will post your position and who you are. Take for example, James Carville.
He has a particular point of view -- that's been paid for -- and he is able to argue eloquently his point-of-view. And he has the courage (or sheer ego) to put his own face and reputation on the line.
I don't think there's anything wrong with posting to a competitor's website or blog, but there is something wrong about not putting your own name to the post. I've spoken in public and for attribution for many, many clients. Never once have I resorted to being an anonymous source and if I ever post to someone's website stating my own or my client's point-of-view, then I'll do it in a way people will know who I am. And if my identity subtracts from either the credibility or substance of my argument, then shame on me. Public Relations people need to be involved in the dialog wherever it takes place -- weblogs included -- and have the guts to say it, mean it and sign it.
