Wal-mart free blog

Everybody has a constitutional right to free speech, and so there's nothing really wrong about Wal-mart planting stories with bloggers (any more than, say, the Sierra Club). There's something creepy about it, though.

 

It's pretty obvious, and not always in a good way, that I'm writing my blog myself rather than channeling the Wal-mart PR machine.

 

 

NY Times, March 7, 2006

"Wal-Mart Enlists Bloggers in P.R. Campaign

By MICHAEL BARBARO

Brian Pickrell, a blogger, recently posted a note on his Web site attacking state legislation that would force Wal-Mart Stores to spend more on employee health insurance. "All across the country, newspaper editorial boards — no great friends of business — are ripping the bills," he wrote.

It was the kind of pro-Wal-Mart comment the giant retailer might write itself. And, in fact, it did.

Several sentences in Mr. Pickrell's Jan. 20 posting — and others from different days — are identical to those written by an employee at one of Wal-Mart's public relations firms and distributed by e-mail to bloggers.

Under assault as never before, Wal-Mart is increasingly looking beyond the mainstream media and working directly with bloggers, feeding them exclusive nuggets of news, suggesting topics for postings and even inviting them to visit its corporate headquarters...."

Full story at <http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/07/technology/07blog.html?_r=1&th=&oref=slogin&emc=th&pagewanted=print>