Today, BREAKER magazine exposed the unstated pay-to-publish policies of major coin journals. But the issue of money within crypto journalism goes deeper than undisclosed sponsored content.
Today, BREAKER published a story regarding a lapse in journalistic ethics amongst prominent coin journals. Troubled by the number of unsolicited emails he received offering money for media coverage, BREAKER contributor Corin Faife decided to see how other crypto journals responded to such requests.
After setting up a fake email account under the name Nikolay Kostarev, he then emailed 28 coin journals through their "contact" or "advertise" links to inquire about advertising rates. If the website replied with price information, he asked how much it would cost for an article "to not be marked as 'sponsored.'" In other words, he wanted to know if something written by a company could pose as an article.
The results may not surprise you. Twelve of the 28 outlets said they'd publish the content without identifying it as sponsored. Another two "hinted at being willing to do so under certain conditions, but did not ultimately confirm it."
The 12 caught with their hands in the cookie jar, according to BREAKER's investigation, included NewsBTC, Bitcoinist, Cryptovest, AMB Crypto, and Blokt.
Cointelegraph didn't cover itself in glory either: "Instead of discouraging 'Nikolay' from seeking to pay for coverage, a member of the business team was happy to point us towards some sites in the Cointelegraph Media Group that did."
For the skeptical, Faife has included screenshots. The article[1], which includes responses from several of the named outlets, is worth reading in its entirety.
The High Horse
It should go without saying that ETHNews doesn't do
