Last week treehugger brought to light some accusations by other bloggers regarding Bourgue Newswatch selling reworked headlines, via Dust my Broom we see that their suspicions were reasonable.

OTTAWA (CP) - Reader beware: the headline on your favourite Internet news site may have been bought and prescribed by a political party, candidate, lobbyist, corporation or TV show.

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If a political party pays a news site to highlight as a top story something that is deeply negative about an opponent, complete with a deliberately torqued headline, should that be considered advertising?

Make no mistake, this practice is occurring all the time.

A multitude of sources say this is precisely the business model of Bourque Newswatch, Canada’s most popular private political news aggregator and the Internet news destination of choice for much of the federal chattering class.

In fact the site, run by Pierre Bourque, a one-time Ottawa city councillor and failed federal Liberal candidate, seems to openly advertise the practice.

The site (www.bourque.com), which some reports suggest gets more than five million visits per month, advertises its ability to provide “unique customized tactical messaging capabilities” and lists its services as “banners, headlines, pop polls, e-mail blasts (and) more.”

Visitors to Bourque Newswatch see a page with a series of short, punchy headlines. Clicking on the headline links the reader to a story, usually on an external news site. The link may also be to a news release on a corporate web site, or a polling company survey.

Bourque did not respond to repeated e-mails and phone messages seeking an interview for this story.

Many of his clients, some of which he lists on the site, were willing to talk off the record, but very few wanted to speak publicly.

Tim Powers, a Conservative party strategist, is an Ottawa lobbyist who runs Summa Strategies which has employed Bourque’s services on behalf of various clients.

Powers, one of the few clients who would talk on the record, sees no problem with what Bourque is doing because the site is up front about it.

“It’s on the screen that you can buy the service,” said Powers.

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While it is not known which clients specifically bought headlines, multiple current and former clients say that as a paying advertiser, it is understood you will get favourable news links on the site.

So there ya have it, if you happen to have deep enough pockets, you too can have the best headlines money can by at Bourque Newswatch.