The Cat’s Out Of The Bag Now
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.
if you happen to have deep enough pockets, you too can have the best headlines money can by at Bourque Newswatch.
And if you have shallow pockets, you can buy some substandard headlines at myblahg. Here’s a sample of our work.
Shocking Photos of Dion Eating a Croissant!
and if you don’t have pockets at all hen you can come to the Wingnuterer, but we have no garrentee the spell in those headlines will be correct, nuk nuk nuk
I guess I now have to note that the Greens and Liberals have not paid me to write for them, and to this point I’ve not made more than $50US from ad revenue (which I don’t even see until I reach $100). Get clicking on my ads! They are at the bottom, out of the way
The editorial stance of the bunker has absolutely nothing to do with that bushel of roubles we get by Purolator every month.
One thing that I have not read anywhere on this topic is an exploration of the issue of advertising standards. MSM and many other media must adhere to the rules set out by the Canadian Adverstising Standard’s Council (I think) in relation to the content and claims they make in adverts. Do online sources effectively fly under that radar? I don’t know but it is interesting to ponder.
I keep asking myself why anybody thinks this is news. A headline is not a story — it is a hook employed to engender interest in the story. Whether or not someone actually reads the item being headlined will depend entirely upon his reaction to the emotional impact of the headline. If the editor guesses correctly, more people will read the story. That’s it. Period.
A headline is a tease, a tool, a come-on…a form of advertising. Advertising is big business. Newspaper editors do it as part of their job. If someone wants to pay Bourque to duplicate the effort, I’m more inclined to question the company that pays him than to question Bourque. His motives are monetary and immediate. What motives can you assign to the company that pays him to rewrite headlines?
Most bloggers, by th’ way, do this for free. If we’re really creative, we can stimulate more interest in any given story than the original headline writer — and we don’t get paid for it.
Why don’t we get paid for it?
Careful, Bush might think you’re talking about getting them from him when you use that word.