Bitcoin News Sites & Dishonesty

[LiteCoinGuy]

Bitcoin News Sites & Dishonesty

I’ve been trying to write stories about Bitcoin in the most honest and transparent way possible. I have suspected for some time though that this isn’t always the case of my peers though.

Cash for news coverage: It’s what Rosental Alves, director of the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas at the University of Texas, calls “the dark part of journalism”–and it happens every day somewhere in the world. — Via CIMA Research Report: Cash for Coverage

How many of the Bitcoin news sites are you reading that are accepting cash for coverage? How many aren’t fairly disclosing investments?

https://medium.com/@TomOnBTC/bitcoin-news-sites-dishonesty-29fee9d6e367

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In summary:

Trustworthy -

Coin Fire — http://coinfire.cf/

CoinDesk — http://www.coindesk.com/

The Crypto Crimson — http://cryptocrimson.com/

Probably Trustworthy - (marks sponsored articles)

CryptoCoinsNews — http://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/

Coin Report — http://CoinReport.net

Untrustworthy -

99bitcoins.com — http://99bitcoins.com/

CryptoArticles — http://www.cryptoarticles.com/

The Bitcoin News — http://TheBitcoinNews.co.uk

Crypto Articles — http://www.CryptoArticles.com

Bitcoin Views — http://BitcoinViews.com

Crypto Biz Magazine — http://CryptoBizMagazine.com

Coin Speaker — http://www.CoinSpeaker.com

Bitcoin Warrior — http://BitcoinWarrior.net

Bitcoinist — http://Bitcoinist.net

[lihuajkl]

Whichever the news site is, they are a kind of company whose aim is to make profit. It is not surprise to get paid for the coverage. So it is down to the readers to choose the source to read.

[hilariousandco]

Hi!
I’m working on a new Bitcoin exchange that will be launching soon and we are looking to get some coverage. I was curious if we could pay and have your site feature us in an article?
Anthony

Borderlines on entrapment. You should've mailed them asking if they'll cover your story first, then if no response send a second one saying you would pay for coverage and see what their response is. I don't think paying for articles is necessarily bad per se and it's probably just a part of the industry to be honest, but it depends on if the money involved is interpreted as a bribe. You could maybe think of it as paid advertising, but of course it's the content of the article. Is it just a puff piece that reads just like a paid advert singing the service's praises or is it a well-rounded article just making people aware of a new product (which is what these bitcoin sites will do daily anyway)?

[Brooker]

Whichever the news site is, they are a kind of company whose aim is to make profit. It is not surprise to get paid for the coverage. So it is down to the readers to choose the source to read.

I agree. Paying for articles is a double edge sword. There's always going to be corruption in any industry, but people need to get their products out there and websites are businesses too and there's only limited time and space for things that they can cover. I think in industries like this it does unfortunately happen. Same with print journalism and the music industry. If you want your song on the radio or a good review of your latest signing's new album you can bung them $$$ and you'll get your exposure.

[Sydboy]

people will pay you not to slander their scammy products so it is not surprising people might bend the truth in articles. I only wish I had thought of it myself :p

[djarot]

this is just temporary issue, as bitcoin news becomes important there will be no more profiteering so easily;) I think the original post is too dramatic about it to be honest....!

[profitofthegods]

Never trust what you read, whether its about Bitcoin or anything else.

Its not just paid posts or people promoting coins they own themselves. If you have money for good press releases, many journalists love to just make a few little changes and get an article which takes no time at all to complete - and often they don't check the facts like they should but just repeat what's presented in the release.

This is the same for mainstream news. For example, there is a big problem with many journalists taking press releases from government sources and just presuming the facts and the case they present to be true, and publishing it without checking - a practice which borders on entrapment when it comes to encouraging corrupt and immoral behaviour on the part of government.

[fryarminer]

I've heard this said about all news agencies. Seems that selling stories is part of the business.

[hellscabane]

Heck, we can be fundamentally honest, virtually all of these sites, just like most of journalism suffers from some sort of inherent bias. And when money falls in line with the inherent bias, it just sweetens the pot.

We can't really do anything about cash for stories as it's what helps fund these sites to continue running (like all media outlets). Some sites are gonna try to work with others to gain exclusitivity rights and those sort of things. Frankly, the main thing we can do as readers, is to take everything we read with a grain of salt, and it if is important, corroborate the story or see what the other takes are.

[Este Nuno]

This is good to know and valuable information about what sites to read and which sites should be avoided.

I'm not surprised at all really though. Bitcoin has always been extremely shady.

Actually a little surprised that Coindesk has a reasonable policy! Good for them.

[earnabit]

I'd like to know how much and by whom this author was paid to write the article.