Manipulating the media
Pual Graham has an interesting essay up on how PR firms manipulate the media.
A surprisingly large fraction of what you read in newspapers and magazines consists of such press hits: stories that, though not false, are there because someone paid for them to be ... PR is the news equivalent of search engine optimization
John Stossel talks about PR from the perspective of a reporter in his book Give Me a Break. As a consumer reporter, he was targeted with PR from law firms trying to get him to run "XXX is bad" type stories in order to prepare juries for yet-to-be filed lawsuits.
Do you trust the links at the top of the search engine results? Do you trust the story at the top of the news? It would seem to depend on the topic. Stossel made me distrust "XXX is harmful" stories. Now Graham makes me question the "XXX is great" stories. I guess you have to ask "who stands to gain" whenever you see something in the media.
To prove my point, you might examine my link to John Stossel's book more closely.
Are you saying that if I buy that book off Amazon through your page, you get a little kcikback?
By Sarah on April 19th, 2005 at 10:25 am;)
By admin on April 19th, 2005 at 11:02 am