Yes, you read that right. I don't believe that blogging is anything special or has any special rules or expectations on the part of the readership. I'll go further:
I think that bloggers have even less expectations than the shoddiest journalists.
When I wade through my RSS feeds I can really see how this is evolving, because one of the most important things that blogging and its spin-off technology RSS has done is separate out the content from its distribution mechanism. In other words, you don't have to go to my weblog to see my content, just subscribe to the feed. That means that the context of my publishing venue has been rendered obsolete.
To put this in tangible terms, what if my business blog had a strongly worded statement of ethics that you couldn't help but notice because of how prominently it was in the overall design? Read my RSS feed, however, or see my feed show up in an aggregator, and that content is completely divorced from my code of ethics. Readers who access my material through a different channel therefore see my content without having any clue whether I'm "pay to blog bob" or "super-ethical dave".
I have had conversations with many bloggers who believe that blogging is apparently a higher calling, that to be a successful blogger you must be hyper-ethical, completely transparent and a model, upstanding citizen who eschews all aspects of capitalism. After all, doesn't information want to be free? (disclaimer on that: I have been involved with open source and free software for decades and have heard this phrase more times than I want to count!)
I don't agree with them. A blog is a tool that makes publishing more convenient and like any tool, it's up to individuals to make it work for their own needs and requirements. While I applaud those people who put in 50-hour weeks gratis because they believe in what they're writing about and they're passionate about sharing their view, I also applaud those bloggers who are experimenting and trying to figure out how to make blogging work for them financially as well as professionally.
Case in point: have a look at Google's AdSense program: it sure looks to me like there are tens of thousands of bloggers who are completely happy selling their ethical high ground for a nickel a click. Why not just be more up front about it and take $50 to write about a new bicycle, ski gloves or software package?
Or am I wrong? Are bloggers expected by the general population to be more ethical and more transparent than journalists and other people who choose to communicate in the online realms?
