There has been an awful lot of criticism about mommy bloggers lately.

Yesterday I added my whisper to the chorus - but if you read that piece, you’ll see that it was more about me whining about my writing than it was about mommy bloggers.

At issue is the idea that mommy bloggers ought to be avoiding bias in their blogs and in their reviews of products. Journalists, for example, do not get paid by companies to review products. No, journalists work for conglomerates who get paid by other conglomerates to advertise products. Big distinction (riiiiiiight). Journalists can be objective because they’re getting paid indirectly by advertisers; mommy bloggers, on the other hand, accept payments directly from advertisers, which means their blogs are not objective.

Blogs are supposed to be objective? Are you kidding me? “Blog” is short for “web log” which is just a technology-based diary, and diaries are personal. Personal – I just looked it up in the dictionary – apparently does NOT mean “objective” or “unbiased”. Just so we know.

I mean, do you see any actual reporting on this site? I tried an interview once. I interviewed my sister, for gawds sakes, and the MP3 crapped out halfway through. This should tell you everything you need to know about my journalism skills. I have none. So if you are reading this while under the sadly, wildly mistaken impression that you are getting balanced, objective research and reporting from me, you may wish to turn haughtily on your heel and exit stage left. Preferably in a big cloud of huffy dust. [Except if you are a magazine editor considering commissioning an article from me. If this is the case, I kindly request that you turn back time, ignore everything I just wrote, and put me in, Coach!]

Other (glaring) indicators of bias in this blog:

• I write about my fat ass
• I post pictures of my fat ass
• I regularly kiss Kate Harding’s ass
• I use the word “ass” frequently and with enthusiasm
• I suggest that if Barack Obama truly wishes to change the world (godspeed, baby, godspeed), he should consider wearing sparkles, crinolines, and making a Disney princess movie
• I just called President Obama “baby”

I trust that my point is made. Moving along…

Bloggers are not journalists. Blogs are usually inherently personal or partisan. They are island communities of opinion in the ever-flowing, continually refreshing ocean of information that is the internet. Mommy bloggers are not required to sign a Bloggers Code of Ethics or risk forfeiting their first-born child (although at this moment in time, I would sign up for that. My eldest is losing teeth like a professional hockey player and the results are no more attractive and profoundly less lucrative).

Blogging is inherently personal; journalism aspires to be objective. Bloggers are therefore not to be held to the same standards as journalists – not that they are of lesser quality or ability (let’s develop a convenient case of amnesia regarding my rant about my own lack of skill), but because it is just a different game entirely.

Bloggers, unlike journalists, are working for free. For themselves. For every Heather Armstrong (and there is only one Heather Armstrong) making $450,000 a year from her blog, there a bazillion and two mommy bloggers out there eking out pennies per post – if that.

I would argue that this is a thread weaving through this tangled mess of criticism. I think the hidden assumption animating much of critique of Mommy bloggers is the idea that they are supposed to be working for free, or at least very cheaply. They are married women, after all, and they just want some pin money. This is why when an uppity woman wrangles a sponsorship from Ford, a free car and a gas card in exchange for reviews on her blog the reaction is a collective sharp intake of breath and sucking on teeth. The nerve of That Woman.

Why should mommy bloggers work for free? Why shouldn’t they be able to charge for the fruits of the labour? (The blogs, not the kids. There are actual laws about the latter.) Because they are women? Mothers? And therefore their work cannot be exchanged for cash?

Well, yes it can. And yes, they should. And call me if you have something you want me to hawk.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 17th, 2009 at 2:26 am and is filed under Family, Money, Power, Work. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.