I’m jumping the gun a bit here, promoting former newspaper colleague Mike Cox’s new book before my review copy arrives from the publishers. I’m not supposed to be part of his virtual book tour until the end of the month. But when I saw the news that the FTC will begin requiring bloggers to disclose conflicts of interest (i.e. product freebies), I thought no time like the present.
The AP’s claim that “traditional journalism outlets” are required (by their publishers) to return products “borrowed for reviews” is a fantasy. Review copies of books, for instance, are never returned. Indeed, many newspapers have year-end discount sales to their employees of their thousands of free review copies, the vast majority never having been reviewed at all.
I happily review Mike’s stuff because he’s a heckuva writer and this Texas Rangers book, the twin sequel to a previous one which I also reviewed, promises to be another good one of importance to Texas history. As for the “bribery,” I’ll undoubtedly buy several more copies to send to friends. But I’ll keep the review copy, just like “traditional journalism outlets” do. I assume this disclosure will be good enough. But if it isn’t, tough.
Via Instapundit and Hot Air.
THE TEXAS SCRIBBLER 