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Re:How brands secretly buy their way into Forbes, Fast Compa... by Retric on Thursday December 07, 2017 @11:53AM (#15871644)
There is nothing unethical about 'call me if you have news'.

However, having pre-written copy introduces vast amounts of bias by shifting how people are thinking about an issue. Thus, you can't rewrite it without first being influenced to think along similar lines. Now, one option is a simple firewall that prevents the person writing the story from reading original copy. More effort in the short term, but companies would have less incentive to try and shape the news for free press.

Re:How brands secretly buy their way into Forbes, Fast Compa... by jsmthrowaway on Thursday December 07, 2017 @12:20PM (#15871852)
Your case rests on the assumption that journalists are incapable of objective thought, when objectivity is a primary trait of journalists.
Re:How brands secretly buy their way into Forbes, Fast Compa... by Retric on Thursday December 07, 2017 @01:39PM (#15872712)
Nobody is completely objective, to suggest that is to believe propaganda over reality which is again the opposite of objectivity.

PS: Really, pink elephants, now where you thinking about elephants or did I suddenly change your thought process... It is possible to minimize bias, but failing to take obvious steps suggests they are not even trying.

Re:How brands secretly buy their way into Forbes, Fast Compa... by Angostura on Monday December 11, 2017 @04:20PM (#15900554)
And so they call - and at that point they give you their careful crafted narrative. Is your objection really that they supply it as text.

As a PR I was initially astonished that my releases would be duplicated verbatim by journalists - and yet it happened, so I was clearly doing both my job and helping them out.