Recently FTC issued a ruling stating that product reviewers on blogs should clearly state if they were paid for them or freebies were handed to them in order to do the review: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/10/05/business/AP-US-TEC-Bloggers-FTC.html?_r=2
I'm just wondering what impact will this ruling have on the DVD and Blu-Ray reviews that are made by DVDTalk's collaborators.
The Bus
10-07-09, 09:27 PM
A line of text?
benedict
10-08-09, 03:07 AM
1) Not absolutely sure what you mean by "DVDTalk's collaborators". Do you simply mean the guys that do the reviews here?
2) DVDTalk is not a blog. It is an overtly commercial site.
3) The cited article and the court decision relate to what I would regard as "shilling". In contrast, with DVDTalk there is a reasonable expectation on the part of the reader that the reviews posted are of products provided for review purposes by commercial concerns rather than representing peoples' thoughts on random DVDs picked up from Blockbuster or wherever. And, as is clear when you read the reviews, not everything is given the thumbs up i.e. there is objectivity.
4) I'm not involved in producing or managing reviews here and wonder why I'm even responding to the OP :p
CritterYawn
10-08-09, 06:50 AM
Well, in this case, could you pass the question along?
(And thanks for the answer. The fact that DVDTalk is not a blog may, or may not be, relevant.)
benedict
10-09-09, 08:40 AM
[....]could you pass the question along?
[....]Done.
Suprmallet
10-09-09, 02:03 PM
I no longer review on DVD Talk, but I was the HD Editor for a time, and I don't think we ever kept it a secret that the reviewers got to keep the discs they received for the reviews. However, that treatment has never stopped the review staff from writing what they think of the product in question. I've been sent to events by the studios, and while the hope is that we will write something wonderful, that is not the expectation. DVD Talk has an excellent reputation for fair and thorough reviews and I don't see why this ruling would change things in that regard.
CritterYawn
10-14-09, 06:22 AM
Thanks for the clarification. It was almost obvious, indeed, I guess it was more like a kind of a heads-up from my part.
Tommy Ceez
10-19-09, 12:12 AM
I think this ruling is more for the political/lifestyle blogs where all of a sudden you would get a series of posts like
"Reporting on the gay rights protest has become so much easier because of my iPhone 3G!"
Buy: