Marking the birth of the 'Your Daily Dose of News'

To mark the birth of this blog into the blogosphere, here's something pertaining to us bloggers which is set locally in Malaysia where blogging has been considered sort of a taboo such as it was thought that it creates a lot of trouble and unrest but was soon accepted as a form of media to gather interests and provide information, or so they say..

Bloggers Go By Their Own Rules

Bloggers, including those who are paid to write product reviews, should set their own standards of ethics.

This is the view of at least three young bloggers – Paul Tan (paultan.org), Kimberly Low (kimberlycun.com), and Lim Su Ann (quaintly. net) – who do product reviews from time to time.

They say that rules should not be imposed on them, but each blogger should set their personal guidelines.

Tan, who blogs mostly on the automotive industry, claimed that he does not get paid for reviews, while Low and Lim admitted that they accepted payments from clients.

The trio were speaking at the forum on Does New Media Influence The Way We Communicate Today?

Lim said while she receives payments and her clients have the final say on her product reviews.

“Just because we are paid does not mean we should lie. Like journalists, we have (personal) rules and ethics to adhere to.

“Clients have the final say. For example, they might not like the word “cheap” used on their product, and ask if it can be changed to “affordable”. But we won’t change the review totally to sound like a press release – otherwise we won’t post it,” she said.

Low concurred, saying that her reviews are “dictated to a certain degree on how we write and review.”

Later, The Star Online senior editor Raslan Sharif gave an insight on how The Star is evolving from the old media to the new, while All Malaysian Bloggers Project editor Michael Fredericks spoke about the blog directory set up in May last year to bridge bloggers with clients and readers.

*Source: The Star Online

My Say: Just because we have no written set of standards and rules doesn't mean that we have none and no matter what they say, we are still untrusted by them in which if you think about it, when have we ever been trusted with in the first place. Sure they are beginning to understand that blogs are an important media in the current world but how do we know whether or not trouble will not stir in the near future if anything should happen.

Only time will tell I guess...