Trying to tap into the burgeoning power of blogs as promotional tools and fed up with the jaded attitudes of professional critics and TV feature writers, studios and networks are flooding bloggers
with free stuff in hopes the flattered recipients will reward them with positive coverage. Some networks have even borrowed a term from the technology industry to describe the strategy:
blogola.
To create buzz about "The New Adventures of Old Christine," CBS recently invited 12 "mommy bloggers" to spend the day on the set. The bloggers got free DVDs, watched a
rehearsal and made videos with Julia Louis-Dreyfus and other cast members to post on their sites. A publicist for Louis-Dreyfus says newspaper critics and feature writers aren't "worth her time."
Mainstream news outlets have strict rules governing to what extent their palms can be greased. Presents valued at more than $25 are typically banned, and that includes travel. But most
blogs--many less than five years old--don't have such rules.
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