This is a nice interview with Doc Searls (it could be audio only and be just as good, by the way…). He shares thoughts on making money from blogging, fairness and transparency.

I don’t completely agree with his views on being paid to post reviews and/or advertisements, but I do see his point, because there are many bloggers out there who will write about a product purely because they are being paid and not because they believe in the product or site or service itself. I don’t place myself in that category, nor do I place many of the other bloggers I’ve met through paid posting in that category. That begs the question: Is there a way to differentiate between the shill and the sincere blogger who is paid to review and post an honest opinion of an advertiser’s product?

The thing I appreciate about Doc is that he’s nice, he takes great photos, he’s always saying something to make me think and evaluate. He talks about being nice in the interview as well. If you’re interested in ethical blogging, transparency and the correlation to ethics in journalism, it’s definitely worth a listen.

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