According to Federal Trade Commission (FTC) guidelines released yesterday, bloggers who review products should in many cases disclose when those products are given to them for free, but traditional journalists usually don't need to. The guides -- which call for a case-by-case analysis of whether disclosure is required -- are not enforceable, but "serve to put marketers on notice about the type of activity the FTC will consider deceptive," Online Media Daily reports.

Continue ReadingFederal Trade Commission Rules Bloggers Should Disclose Freebies

Finke gets the New Yorker profile treatment this week in a nearly-8,000 word piece with the subheadline: "Why Hollywood fears Nikki Finke." Finke says the story is "an amusing caricature, only occasionally true but hardly insightful." She adds: "Still, I'm relieved that The New Yorker didn't lay a glove on me. I found Tad Friend, who covers Hollywood from Brooklyn, easy to manipulate, as was David Remnick, whom I enjoyed bitchslapping throughout but especially during the very slipshod fact-checking process."

Continue ReadingNew Yorker: Nikki Finke is ‘a Combination Town Crier and Volcano God’

In July, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) placed Be and Westword on the "worst" section of its monthly Best and Worst of National News for a cartoon that used the term "Gear Fags" to describe camping enthusiasts who spend a lot of money on ridiculous gear. Be responds -- in hilarious fashion -- with this week's cover story, which points out that more than one celebrity who has received GLAAD Media Awards has also used the word the group apparently found so offensive. "If GLAAD claims that their mission is to 'prevent defamation' and to 'ensure accuracy and fairness for LGBT people in the media,' then why are they fawning over these fearless funny women, yet censoring me like some backwoods LGBT bigot?," he wonders. "Maybe if I had a vagina and a cable TV sitcom, I too would be a red-carpet-worthy GLAAD icon."

Continue ReadingCalled the ‘Worst’ by GLAAD, Westword Cartoonist Kenny Be Strikes Back

The Express' Small Business Monthly will launch in February 2010 and "will focus on local reporting of small business issues in our region," according to an email sent out by publisher Jody Colley. "In a broader purpose," she continues, "it will also serve to inform community members, investors, entrepreneurs and policy leaders on how integral our 'Main Street' independent businesses are to a healthy and sustainable local economy." The publication will be distributed as an insert in the Express each month.

Continue ReadingEast Bay Express Launches Small Biz Publication

"Do you have a medical condition that necessitates marijuana? Do you have a way with words?," the Denver alt-weekly asked in a job posting earlier this week. "If so, Westword wants you to join the ranks as our freelance marijuana-dispensary reviewer." As the paper has reported, the number of medical marijuana dispensaries in the area has exploded, so they're launching a weekly column called "Mile Highs and Lows" to review them. Westword editor Patricia Calhoun tells the Wall Street Journal the process of looking for a critic to review drugs isn't any different than looking for, say, a food critic -- they will post the ad and ask for a sample review. "Our restaurant critic, Jason Sheehan, won a James Beard award," she says. "We're hoping we'll have similar success, although there don't seem to be as many rewards for marijuana reviewers."

Continue ReadingWestword Seeks a Pot Critic

The White House has told Congress that it opposes federal shield legislation that would protect reporters from being imprisoned if they refuse to disclose confidential sources who leak material about national security, and has proposed changes to weaken that provision of the bill, the New York Times reports. The administration's proposals are being criticized by press groups and at least two Democratic senators who have supported the legislation, Arlen Specter (Pa.) and Charles Schumer (N.Y.). "The White House's opposition to the fundamental essence of this bill is an unexpected and significant setback," Schumer says. "It will make it hard to pass this legislation."

Continue ReadingObama Administration Proposes ‘Sweeping Revisions’ to Shield Law