UPDATE:  Since writing this post, MSNBC has picked up the Business Week story in its original version as written by Douglas MacMillan...so now MSNBC has inaccurate and false facts in its story.  I talk about the lack of fact checking and my conversation with Douglas MacMillan below.

Over the past couple of weeks I've been used as an example for articles about bloggers being under scrutiny by the FTC.  If you would have asked me a month ago if I'd be excited about getting press coverage in the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and Business Week over the course of a few weeks, I'd say heck yeah!  After all, these are big publications.

Too bad their reporters are sub par.

Yeah, I said it.  Sub.  Par.

Don't get me wrong, I love the discussion we're having about disclosure and transparency.  I'm all about it.  I encourage the bloggers who read my blog to be above board.  When asked about the relationships I have with different brands, I'm straight forward with my answers.

I didn't go to J-School for get a journalism degree.  Heck, when it comes to my writing skills, there's lots of room for improvement.  I'm an idea person.  Brainstorming is my past time and my blog is my outlet.

However, the reporters for Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and Business Week?  I'm pretty sure they have a journalism degree.  So it makes me wonder why when I read some of these articles written about other bloggers and myself that I feel like I'm reading a tabloid.

When Ann Zimmerman from the Wall Street Journal contacted me about an interview for a story she was working on her email on March 18 read:

"I am a reporter at The Wall Street Journal and am doing a story on retailers and manufacturers’ increased use of social marketing to reach customers, particularly women."

That night, at 9:00pm no less, we spoke for almost an hour about a myriad of my experiences. Most of my conversation centered around my role as a marketing consultant for companies like Care.com and Wishpot.com. We also spoke at length about MomForce.com, a job site that helps companies reach moms with moms by hiring them in similar marketing roles. You can imagine my surprise when the article, "Paid to Pitch: Product Reviews by Bloggers Draw Scrutiny", came out.

Huh?

But a much larger infraction by a reporter has to be the gaffe by Doug MacMillan, of Business Week, today. Not only did he write that I received a car from Ford in 2008 but he also gave it as an example of a company giving product to a blogger for review.

Not only did Mr. MacMillan never have a conversation with me, but he also didn't do his fact-checking. The article has since been corrected, but a) I only just went to pick up the Ford Flex from Ford LAST MONTH (last I checked it was 2009) but b) I received the car seven months AFTER I wrote about the Ford Flex.

Ironically, I was only about three blocks away from the McGraw-Hill offices (publisher of Business Week) when I called Doug MacMillan this morning to request he make the correction. He said his sources were the Wall Street Journal and a Forrester Research "list". Seriously?

Seriously.

At least when the New York Times referenced me in their article, they identified the Wall Street Journal as their source. Wonder why Doug from Business Week didn't cite his sources for what he wrote about me?

Stephanie Precourt of Adventures in Babywearing clearly asked him to make some corrections too as he acknowledged as much in the comments of his article.

I'm wondering when he'll acknowledge in the comments of his article his erroneous and unprofessional practices regarding his paragraph referencing me.

Perhaps. And I know I'm going out on a limb here. But perhaps while we start holding bloggers accountable for engaging in best practices, we also hold journalists to a higher benchmark too.

I personally feel like I've been prey for these reporters and I'm not going to tolerate their desperation to bring bloggers down by twisting the truth, taking quotes out of context, and not doing their due diligence when it comes to fact checking and getting to the heart of the story.

I'd love to see a reporter actually DO THEIR JOB and dig deep to identify the bloggers that are truly not disclosing or being transparent. To DO THEIR JOB instead of taking a shortcut using another newspaper as a source.

TO DO THEIR JOB instead of preying on bloggers that are disclosing and being transparent because they (the reporters) fear they're becoming irrelevant.

In the meantime, if you've been preyed upon by a reporter, I invite you to share your experience here in the comments.

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