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Comment by mbesto | Hacker News Reader

There is nearly 1 or 2 stories a day on the front page of HN from TC.

Please people. Stop. Upvoting. This. Crap.

I think the core of the problem is not TechCrunch or person X or Y. The core problem is advertising disguised as journalism. The solution is legislation against this. Famous direct marketer Dan Kennedy said that the most efficient marketing is always illegal, and for example infomercials on TV are now legally restricted because they were too "dangerous" for consumers.

I disagree. Content is a free market aimed at sourcing as many eyeballs as possible. Stop giving them your eyeballs and we won't deal with it.

I understand your point and I am a big supporter of the free market, but I think consumers need a minimum protection against infomercials.

I think there would be something along the lines of would be what's required:

"Disclaimer: [$thisBlog] is an investor in [$company]"

...right underneath the story headline involving a company they were involved with. It would force "journalists" to at least pretend to be somewhat objective.

Yes I think that is a minimum. Still the other concern is the kind of racket that is described: you pay or we won't mention you, or worse we will destroy your reputation (hitman).

"Or, don’t buy a subscription and I will bash you relentlessly.” Most big companies paid up and considered it a cost of doing business."

More legislation is almost never a good solution. It'll just encourage the parasites to get more creative and hurt the legitimate journalists.

"Under the Federal Trade Commission Act:

Advertising must be truthful and non-deceptive; Advertisers must have evidence to back up their claims; and Advertisements cannot be unfair.

Additional laws apply to ads for specialized products like consumer leases, credit, 900 telephone numbers, and products sold through mail order or telephone sales. And every state has consumer protection laws that govern ads running in that state."

You think this consumer protection laws should be removed?

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