Questions...

I've been doing research on a final paper all day today.

And I have run across a lot of information...

That's not necessarily useful.


*frustrated*


I've been thinking a lot about corporations, public relations, public affairs...

Well, you get the idea.


I've also been looking at how the blogosphere has been very instrumental in shaping the internet as well as the information that is available through it.


The MSM (mainstream media) and multiple corporations have jumped on the blog "bandwagon"...so to speak.


Controlling bad press, poor public image, and overall consumer ratings has become much like trying to make a pet out of a skunk.

You can care for it, feed it, and lightly touch it...

But if you startle it, or accidentally back into it~

Well, everything ends up in a stink. And it's a horrific eye-tearing odor that not only doesn't wash off, but can actually last for days, months, and perhaps longer.

The only true antidote for removing the smell of a skunk is the passage of time.


So what do corporations and public affairs officers do to keep their "pet skunk" happy, and odorless?


In the past, it has always been the role of the organization to "control information". You control the press releases, you control the dialogue, you control every aspect possible.

With the increase of corporations combining to create huge multi-corp entities, it seems that they have a handle on this problem.

Especially those corporations who own MSM outlets. Since journalistic corporations are now being gobbled up by non-journalistic businesses, a question begs to be asked.

How much of the news is edited, rewritten, or cut out all together in the interest of the "big parent" company?

You know what I mean...

How much of our information is filtered through a public relations officer or firm?

In other words, how much self-censorship is practiced by our journalists?


How do corporations control public opinion in seeming nebulous places like the blogosphere?

Do they "surgically" remove the skunk's scent glands?

Via threats of lawsuits, e-mailed coercion, and the like?


Does America become a police state in the world of thoughts and ideas?

Is our freedom of speech a historical past time?


These thoughts and many others come to me in light of the threatening e-mail that SouthCon received from Metropolitan Who's Who.

No.

I can't seem to shake this atrocity from my mind.


I have a few questions to ask, and I hope that everyone will participate.

The polls are confidential, and I don't have any way of tracking who you are or how you voted. Although, there is a map to show what part of the world you are in.

I thank all of you in advance for your participation.



























Hate E-mail and Threatened Bloggers...


Blogger's Rights...


Metropolitan Who's Who aka Metropolitan Registries, Inc.


Do Search Engines Serve the Public?