$500 for publicity
By Techgirl

While a substantial part of the Indian media is independent, many of the news items you see on TV, newspapers and blogs is paid news.  Big business (especially tech companies) has mastered the art of ‘compensating’ journalists and bloggers to give positive slants to some people and products.

One of America’s top tech journalists Harry McCracken who writes for Time magazine, Cnet and many others has published an email he received from global giant PR Company Ogilvy that he would get $500 for coverage of LG products

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Are there bloggers who would write about LG products in return for $500 gift cards? Of course. Not me, though, and I also wouldn’t do it in return for $5000 cards or $50,000 cards. And while Technologizer has sometimes worked with companies to offer prizes to Technologizer readers, with disclosure–for instance, in 2009, we gave away an HP laptop–I wouldn’t use gift cards as an incentive to encourage tweeting and commenting about a particular company.
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When the sh** hit the fan, Ogilvy clarified that it was a genuine mistake and that it was a ‘teaching moment’ and that the employee who sent the email would be ‘re-educated’.

Gosh, what would we do without the eloquence (and gifts) of some PR companies?

Techgoss note:  Techgirl is a senior Tech journalist who reports on the IT, KPO and KPO Sectors for a leading media house.  In her spare time, she dabbles in satire in her blog techgirltalk.blogspot.com.  Techgirl has been ejected from Twitter for satirizing an Indian Minister.  Her satire blog has links to her Times of India interview detailing her being kicked out of Twitter, and then being invited back.