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Food blogger says he wasn't aware Boston Globe now printed in a glass house

The Passionate Foodie fires back at the Globe for a piece that raised ethical questions about bloggers who accept free meals from local restaurants, by charging the author has herself accepted free stuff:

The Boston Globe correspondent who penned the Boston Bruncher article is named Kathleen Pierce and I have met her. In fact, I met her back in March 2010 when we both attended a free wine junket to Paso Robles, California. Free airfare, free hotel, free meals, free wine tastings, and more. As a reasonable estimate, each writer probably received benefits worth at least $2000. This really puzzles me. How can the writer who received such a bountiful freebie now complain about a blogger receiving only a $30 brunch? Even if a blogger went to 10 of those brunches, the value of those meals still would not equate to the value of the wine junket.

UPDATE: Doug Most at the Globe sent this statement:

Kathleen Pierce did take the wine trip in question. It was more than two years ago. We were unaware of it, because at the time she was not a regular freelancer for The Globe. She was working part-time in a wine store and had only done a several freelance pieces. She did not write about the trip for The Globe, which would have been in direct violation of the Globe's ethics policy. I spoke with her and reminded her of the Globe’s freelance policy and the importance of adhering to the standards we apply to all our writers, which is that they must avoid any junkets or trips or free meals that put them in conflict, or the appearance of conflict, with anything they have written about or may write about in the future.

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Comments

She must have missed the glowing post I wrote about Sweet Caroline's after their complimentary reception.

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My heart really goes out to one of the blog's commenters:

"Sharlene said...
JC- one of the reason bloggers don't always pay for their meals is that they can't afford to. Newspapers have budgets to pay their writers to eat and in order for writers to be prolific and educated, they need to eat often. I am sure you know just how expensive eating ou frequently can be.

Maybe this person should find a NEW, LESS EXPENSIVE HOBBY? How sad is it that Sharlene can't afford eat out at great restaurants and write about it.

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I have to say--that made me cringe. Especially since the idea of a newspaper with a generous budget sounds about as current as a three-martini lunch.

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Ok- so if you want to write about food, you can't expect people to just give it to you, but I think she may have a bit of a point.

While newspapers may no longer offer have expense accounts for their food writers, surely those work meals get written off on their taxes as legitimate expenses. Professional critics pay for their meals, in part to preserve anonymity, and try to get an honest feel for a restaurant or bakery, not their "best show", but I'd be quite shocked to learn that they never get perks (like comped drinks or food) at restaurants they are recognized at or return to.

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Old media is just upset that they're losing their grip. It's over for them. The Globe has very few "real" journalists at this point.

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have you ever read a blog?

if there arent any real journalists at the papers, then they are extinct

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Lol. In case you didn't notice, newspapers are indeed going extinct. http://newspaperdeathwatch.com/

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