Ethics and Podcasts.. A Dilemma

electric_mayhem

How does one justify having a sponsor for an episode and then a certain "Pick of the Week" is then from the same company, where the issue is promoted, heavily I might add, and the lines of opinion and conversation become blurry?

I wonder, would you feel comfortable if you were put into the postion? Would that mean you could take no sponsership from any comic company?

John_Steed

I see no problem as long as one upholds a certain transparence in choosing the "pick of the week". The listeners are not stupid. Tell them why and how a certain book was chosen. And most importantly have the decency to give a fair, honest and valid review. A clever sponsor will not jump ship if a review isn't as glorious. They are very well aware of the power of the WWW......

Zhurrie

I covered videogames for a long time and that is a pretty corrupt market with a lot of money and pressure and strong "expectations" behind the scenes. I never played into it and as a result ended up with independent sites and publications (of which there are very few) but I was always able to be objective and honest. I had companies refuse to send titles, threats, revoked passes, etc. There were also a number of companies that never said a word and often actually cared and took things to heart and used them to improve. That was a minority and not the big players at all.

I understand the desire to cover costs, just break even, or possibly make a buck with any time-consuming endeavor like this but I think once you lose credibility in the eyes of your audience you've lost everything. It isn't worth it. The best way to handle it is to be up front, honest, and never let things mix with the audience and with the sponsors. If the sponsor is not OK with that, find a different one. It truly is not worth it.

JohnTilton

the video game market is horrible, this is why I don't go to ign, except to stream the IPL starcraft tournaments. when games like Dark Souls get completely looked over in a way when it was one of the best games to come out last year, it makes me just a bit annoyed. As far as comics go, with the smaller podcasts I don't notice this issue as much, only on the much more website backed podcasts do I notice the blatant sponsor getting more than just a couple lines of advertising throughout the podcast.

miscatonic

One statement would alleviate this problem as far as listeners are concerned. "Such and such podcast sponsored by...." and you would know that the biases are going to be in place. I personally had this same problem with CGS right before they started officially announcing sponsors as they always seemed to promote certain places and brands and what not. With as many podcasts as there are out there it's easy to find shows slanted however you feel inclined to listen.

KyleMoyer

I can't speak for the geeks, but in the early episodes, I really don't think they were promoting certain places or brands as much as it was that they were just genuinely interested in them and their interest led to a sponsorship. As DCBS as an example - I don't think they were getting paid or sponsored by them at all, but just were fans of the company. Their fanship led to them getting a sponsorship from them.

Again, I could be wrong as I have no inside knowledge other than what I've heard on the show and having listened to the early shows.

DoctorDoom

Huh, I've never really noticed this issue before.

Either it hasn't really come up in the podcasts I listen to, or I just don't pay close attention to it.

And if it's the latter... I still won't. \:D/

tazmaniak

But do any comic book companies actually sponsor podcasts?

electric_mayhem

But do any comic book companies actually sponsor podcasts?

One did. And it caught my attention, thus my curiosity. Maybe I am over-analyzing it, but wanted to get other opinions.

Zhurrie

The Trigun Badlands thing was everywhere on a bunch of podcasts and it was the same script so that made it even worse. Some podcasts start out the show with a sponsor message, some end their show with it, and some do the "attempt to integrate it with the show" method that never works and just turns me off. I don't care that DCBS or the comic stuff site are sponsors just don't ever try to push something from or by them as anything but an advertisement and I don't care. When shows magically talk up something everyone knows is crap but is being pushed heavily by a sponsor the offender is entirely dead to me. Podcast, website, etc. Doesn't matter. When you compromise credibility for a buck I'm out. I worked and lived in too much of that B.S. for too long and I didn't stand for it then and I still don't now.

mwhitt80

The Trigun Badlands thing was everywhere on a bunch of podcasts and it was the same script so that made it even worse.

That is an ad that was everywhere.

But do any comic book companies actually sponsor podcasts?

CGS has had Markosia sponsor stuff for them.

DoctorDoom

The Trigun Badlands thing was everywhere on a bunch of podcasts and it was the same script so that made it even worse. Some podcasts start out the show with a sponsor message, some end their show with it, and some do the "attempt to integrate it with the show" method that never works and just turns me off.

I find some attempts to integrate it to be hilarious. Especially when it's awkward. I want to say that Trigun: Badlands is a good example of unintentional comedy.

jaydee74

I think it could be a problem if the company that is sponsoring your particular episode also happens to be the subject of said episode. When I worked at Time Out New York, we had a very specific rule about movie ads which was that they could not be on the opposite page of the movie's review. The editors felt that it could be seen as a biased move and so we would have to change around pages if that ever occurred. As far as podcasters are concerned, I would imagine that it would be up to them to decide if they want to take on a sponsorship from a company that they would be talking about in that particular episode.

SolitaireRose

I think that it would completely depend on the type of podcast, type of sponsor and the implicit deal that the podcasters have made with the listener. I'll use my podcast as an example:

One of the jokes on the show was that the webstrip I write was buying ads, and I would announce that I was taking a $20 bill from one pocket and putting it in the other. Am I promoting my own stuff? Yep, but it made it VERY clear to the listener. And, since we are primarily a comic based humor podcast, most of our ads have comedic hyperbole involved, and if a comic publisher were to buy an ad, we'd clearly tell you it was an ad, but if we liked the book, it would bleed over into the show.

If I were doing a straight news style podcast, I would treat the ads differently. Or, if I were doing an interview podcast...well, the only reason most people will do an interview is to promote something, so the interview itself is an ad in a lot of ways. It's all in the context of what you are doing.

I like to look at broadcast for my guidance. Howard Stern will do ads for things on the show, and it's pretty clear when he is doing as ad, but the ads become a part of the broadcast if he does like the advertiser or can get humor out of it.

You just need to be honest and open with the listener about the purpose of what you are doing, IMHO.