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Watchdog.org
Florida
experts say as power of blogs grow, so
may regulations
By Marianela Toledo
April 19, 2013
MIAMI
— Blogs may be one of the last vestiges
of the independent press, but as their influence grows, so could
regulations.
The
impact of blogs became evident when the
Federal Trade Commission stepped in with guidelines on their use
recently.
“The
Federal Trade Commission’s guidelines are
just the beginning of the regulations that will establish the rules for
the
content of blogs,” said Alejandro Alvarado, a Florida International
University
journalism professor and director of Hispanic Telemundo Media.
FTC:
blogs are subject to follow regulations
and guidelines related to advertising, like any other media.
“As
(the industry) consolidates, the FTC will
strengthen its supervision. Blogging cannot escape regulation as it
grows in
influence with consumers, and especially when its contents are
influenced with
money or gifts from advertisers,” Alvarado said.
In
2009, the FTC revised its guidelines
regarding the ‘Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising’ to
include
blogs.
“These
guidelines are for guidance and are
(therefore) not legally binding. But they are important because they
help
advertisers and endorsers to comply with Section 5 of the FTC Act,
which
prohibits unfair or deceptive acts or practices in commerce,” FTC
spokeswoman
Betsy Lordan told Florida Watchdog.
The
FTC’s guidelines were revised due to two
important cases in which penalties were imposed.
One
was a case of lying on a ‘independent
review‘, while the other involved misleading consumers about a gaming
application.
Entertainment
lawyer and blogger Ivan Perron
said blogs are only regulated if they accept advertising money. “If the
blogger
receives any compensation to express their support, you should tell
your
readers that you are being compensated for that.”
The
influence that blogs now wield is well
documented. A
survey conducted by
Webershandwick.com on American consumers found that nearly 80 percent
of them
trust the reviews or tips they read in popular blogs and websites.
Blogworld.com
reports there were 31 million
bloggers in the United States as of July 2012…
Read
the rest of the article at Watchdog.org
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