Theres No Such Thing as a Free Lunch: An Assessment of Filipino Food Blogging Ethics
There's No Such Thing as a Free Lunch: An Assessment of Filipino Food Blogging Ethics
This study examines the research methods of Filipino food bloggers to determine how they find and select restaurants, how they interact with representatives from these restaurants, what ethical dilemmas they face, whether they are aware of journalistic codes of ethics and whether they apply these in their practice. Five food bloggers were interviewed regarding their practices, while representatives from five restaurants and two public relations experts provided insight on the interaction between blogger and restaurant. It was found that generally, the bloggers practice casual modes of research, rarely carry outright disclosures on their blogs and subscribe to personal ethics instead of a consistent code of ethics specific to their practice. They also reject the label of “journalist,” implying that because of this they also reject journalistic codes of ethics. A new media ethics expert supplied the evaluation of ethics in food blogging and recommended how the bloggers can come up with ethical guidelines specific to their practice, emphasizing the need for standards in food blogging before the bloggers can formulate and impose regulations among themselves.
Ejercito, C.B. & Española, A.J. (2012). There’s no such thing as a free lunch: an assessment of Filipino food blogging ethics. Unpublished undergraduate thesis, University of the Philippines College of Mass Communication.
Key Words: Blogging, ethics, food, food blogging, journalism ethics, online journalism, new media