Bloggers Party Free in Vegas (Your Invitation Must've Gotten Caught in The Spam Filter)
If you're finding your RSS feed a little thin today, that may be because your favorite media and lifestyle bloggers are away on an important reporting assignment. In Las Vegas. Paid for by the nice folks at Thrillist.
Take for example Mediabistro's FishbowlNY: Co-editor Glynnis MacNicol posted that half their editorial team (we're guessing that just means her) is "about to board a plane, courtesy of Thrillist (the hotel is on them, too) and go to Las Vegas for thirty-six hours."
Ms. MacNicol isn't so sure what journalistic value the trip has, but, you know, it's hot in New York and it's totally fun in Las Vegas! "Yeah, we're not exactly sure why, either, or who's coming even. But you can be sure whatever happens in Vegas will find its way to this space. Also, twitter."
So, who else is going? According to the Huffington Post's Rachel Sklar (who will be covering the junket for Radar), Verena Von Pfetten (also of HuffPo), Star editor-at-large TimeOut NY dating columnist Julia Allison, and Gawker Media's Richard Blakeley will be in attendance. (Ms. Allison arrived 16 hours ago and reports, "It's a beautiful day.") Sounds like a great time! Let's hope everyone remembers to wear sunblock.
The invitation from Thrillist's PR people went out on June 2. Since you probably didn't get it, here's the full text:
Hey All—
Thrillist, the nation’s most popular men’s email lifestyle guide, is partnering up with Jet Blue for an all-expense paid 36-hour trip to Las Vegas and YOU’RE INVITED!
So far, here are the details:
• We leave Friday, June 13 – you need to be at JFK airport by 12:50pm.
• JetBlue has given us a plane – 150 people total are coming along.
• We arrive in Vegas at 6:00 pm.
• You will have a room reserved for you at the Mirage.
• We have two great parties set for Friday night, Saturday morning.
• You will be back at JFK by Saturday night.
• Everything is free but your trip to/from the airport.
A ton of people RSVP’d to come along, but we only have a limited number of spots available. If you’re getting this email, it means we’ve reserved space for you to come along.
Please take a quick look at the invite and then go to www.thrillist.com/[REDACTED] to officially reserve your spot. We need you to do this ASAP as we have to manifest the flight and start laying out rooms at the Mirage. Your confirmation email will be sent to you sometime next week with all the finalized details. If, for whatever reason, you cannot attend, please just let me know as soon as you can.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to email or call me (212-XXX-XXXX).
All the best, [REDACTED]
Well, guess we know how much it takes to buy off these particular bloggers. They sell themselves out pretty cheap.
It's my understanding that Thrillist invited people from The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, USA Today, Vanity Fair, some of the media trades, not to mention the morning news shows and the evening entertainment shows. It's interesting that only bloggers went - they must not see the conflict-of-interest rules that the more mainstream folks have long imposed upon themselves....
How do you "cover" a nonevent? Oh, right.
The web has yet to come up with a model to pay its own way, so expect to see more of this kind of lack of ethics from those who feel they have "earned" a free ride. And disclosure doesn't make it all right. Free PR is free PR. If they tell you that they can't be bought with just a little trip to Vegas, they're not only lying to you - they are lying to themselves. Particulary disappointed in HuffPost and Radar.
Frankly, I'm torn.
I mean, I want to be outraged at any media/blogger-types gullible enough to take these junkets. But why get mad when all they are doing is demonstrating once again why they aren't working for outlets that actually care about their credibility?
And let's face it, it's a pretty self-selecting group. I'd never depend on any of the people who go on these trips for anything serious either before or after they do.
So why not let them have their little 36 hours of fun?
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blogging is turning into a big time profession. Man would i love to go to vegas just because im a blogger. that would be awesome. id love to stay at the MGM grand and see some of those las vegas shows that everyone is always raving about. ive never even been to vegas but i hear its awesome.
My buddy went to this and I heard he got some sweet vegas limos to ride around in. They also got treated to see a great Las Vegas Show and some killerlasvegas hotel deals. I wish i had been invited!
I love going to Las Vegas Hotels because they are so nice. Las Vegas Hotels are nicer than any other city's hotels. New York City Tours are better than vegas tours though.