My personal experience regarding the free stuff

In light of our discussion about whether or not it is ethical to take free offers, I just remembered about an experience I had..

This past summer I worked for a news/local entertainment TV station in Hawaii. I mostly worked behind the scenes with the camera crew. One event we covered is called the "Taste of Honolulu" where a lot of the top-rated cuisines gather and set up booths for food or beverage tasting. Similar to carnivals/state fairs, people needed to purchase a book of scripts in order to taste the samples from the different booths.

Because this was my first job in the field, I did not know what to expect.. When I went to the site that day, I did not expect that my boss would hand me free scripts. He told me that basically whenever we weren't on air, I could get whatever I wanted. It felt kinda neat to have such benefits working with them but at the same time I didn't think it was right for me to accept the scripts and use them freely knowing that I was there on a job, even though we were allowed to use the scripts during our breaks. So keeping in mind that I was there to work, I didn't use the scripts. Then later I felt bad because I didn't want them to go to waste.. so I called some of my family and friends to come to the event and I gave them the scripts my boss gave to me.. even then, I still felt awkward when they came to pick up the scripts from me while I was working..

There was also another live event we covered which was the Miss Hawaii pageant and it was held at the Hilton resort. During the days of rehearsal and actual live show, our crew was offerred free meals from the hotel and the TV station.. I was not used to such treatment and it took me awhile to get used to it.

As Dr. Robertson mentioned, the codes of ethics varies with the company you work with.. this may not have been an ethical issue in my job because everyone that worked at these events received the same treatment as well. When I was hired, however, no one really discussed any such ethical codes with me. But at that time, I wasn't thinking about the ethical aspect of my job... I just needed the experience. Though now that I think about it...when I was offerred these free stuff, ethics was actually running through my mind (for example, i didn't think it was right for me to use the scripts) but I didnt realize the ethical aspect of it at that time. I just thought it was interesting and I'm glad that I'm learning all the stuff that we're learning in class as it helps me be aware of such ethical issues...

bloggers and journalists

Thinking about the difference between bloggers and journalists, I came across an article online, which you can also read here: http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2077969,00.asp

In the article, it mentioned how bloggers who write about Microsoft received gifts of laptops through the courtesy of Microsoft hoping that these bloggers would be impressed enough to write good reviews about them.

The author of the article, John Pallatto, also mentioned that product reviewers of print and online publishers have corporations lend them stuff to test latest software, but with the understanding that the products needed to be returned unless they have a reason to keep it, they would pay for it. However, the bloggers had no such obligation but have to know that they are compromising their objectivity and honesty. Pallatto also said that "bloggers as well as journalists have an obligation either to refuse such handouts, or if they do accept them to disclose it to readers so that they can judge whether or not their articles are objective enough to be believed."

I've also heard somewhere that journalists, in general, should refuse gifts and money...

How ethical do you think this is? Also, do you think bloggers should learn about journalism ethics?

Personally, I don't think it's right for independent bloggers to accept such gifts with no obligation to return it because I would think that their reviews about the products would be good considering they got them for free. However, I'm still not sure about the difference between bloggers and journalists and if bloggers would be accounted for unethical acts.