Darren Rowse points us to a post by a blogger who is giving up on using Google AdSense because of ethical issues.
Trent Hamm runs a website called The Simple Dollar, which gives financial advice for “people fighting debt and bad spending habits.” His issue with AdSense:
“…this automated bidding system allows anyone to bid, and I don’t have much control over who does the bidding. The end result was that the site would have ads from payday loan places, credit card brokerages, shady subprime lenders, and such.”
“In the end, I finally realized that the real reason I write The Simple Dollar is to help bring about positive change in people’s lives, and when the site showed ads that really conflicted with that mission, I was undercutting what I want to do here.”
To me, this is another positive sign in the evolution of blogging and online journalism. While online media does not have standards and practices that have evolved over a century’s time like print media – decisions like Trent’s show its move in a positive direction. When a blogger will dramatically cut his personal income because of ethical issues over ads… it shortens the expanse from blogger to traditional journalist.