FunnyBusiness: Everything About Business Except The Bottom Line

Blogger Faces $20 Million Lawsuit For Calling Vision Media A "Scam"

Bloggers are not journalists. That can be a good thing. That can be a bad thing. Bloggers don't have editors. Bloggers don't have media companies to pay lawyers in the event of a law suit. Bloggers may not be protected under the same first amendment rights as journalists.

So is the situation that Leslie at the Oko Box  finds herself. She blogs about organic clothing, environment, pollution, health, organic food, fair trade and organic farming.

In February she outted a production company that contacted her about an alleged series they were doing for PBS. Emails were exchanged. When the production company said it would cost her $26,000 to participate in the program.

Leslie smelled a something fishy. She followed the scent and what she discovered was a very stinky situation.
She  headlined  the story: Scam Taking Advantage of Green Business

If you do a simple search on TV Production Fee scams, you can easily find this same scam under several other names : New Line Media TV, New Line Media, Platinum Television Group,& PTG Studios (and the current name Vision Media Television ). You can also read a "ripoff report" that matches my experience with them exactly, even down to the minutes and dollar amounts @ http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/232/RipOff0232353.htm

 

Vision Media has filed a $20 million law suit against Leslie. .The Consumerist reports,

The lawsuit is filed in the Southern District of Florida, a bit of a problem for her as she's based in North Carolina and doesn't have a car or much money. Leslie told the Mountain Xpress, “Who has $20 million? At $20 million, legal-aid organizations generally won’t help you. Since it’s filed in the Southern District of Florida, not a lot of lawyers here are licensed to practice there...I don’t have a car, I don’t have money, so we’re trying to get it transferred here so I can find someone to represent me pro bono."

Any pro-bono lawyers out there who want to help Leslie out can contact her at info@theokobox.com.

As B.L. Ochman writes,

A major issue the case brings up is that bloggers First Amendment rights are not as clear as those of mainstream media. A bully like Vision Media counts on a lone blogger not having the resources to fight a lawsuit, even a frivolous one like this one. The posts of many bloggers are shedding light on the situation, and that always helps because bullies count on having their victims turn tail and run

. Over the past several years, Media Bloggers Association has offered legal support and successfully resolved scores of similar cases. MBA's website says it soon will offer affordable liability insurance to its members, along with media law training.

My colleague at BlogHer, Virginia DeBolt had a chance to chat with Leslie about the lawsuit and also has some great advice about the need for adding disclaimers to blog posts.

Putting a disclaimer is super important for anyone blogging, especially if you ever criticize anyone's company, product, or even a politician. Even this may not be all you need to protect yourself though, but it's a good start. Once someone threatens to sue, another thing you can do is "retract" your statement, especially if it wasn't true, or if you found out later it wasn't true. In some cases this can make it so the plaintiff can not get any punitive damages (which in my case would be $15 million). I have added a statement retracting that VMT was entirely "imaginary" because I found out this wasn't true, as I had originally believed. I did not however retract any of my other statements, which were the story of what I experienced with them - but did note my personal definition of "scam" since this is mainly what they are suing me over.

Stopped by Media Bloggers Association and they are not quite ready with their liability insurance but you can sign up for an alert when the service will be available.

More on this story as it develops.

Where Are All The Back To School Shoppers? Online

When I drove into my driveway yesterday afternoon after a day of meetings, I saw a package on the front door. It was my daughter's three pair of jeans that she had ordered from American Eagle. Yes, there are several American Eagle stores in Minneapolis, but she opted for her to purchase her back to college wardrobe, online.

She's not alone. The experts are saying the paradigm is shifting. From Seattlepi.com

Sixteen-year-old Emma Myers is an unwitting case study in the changing way that Americans shop for back to school.

"I don't really like to go to the mall. It's kind of boring and stressful," said the Sammamish teenager. "It seems more like a waste of time just to go all the way to the mall and browse."

[...]

Of the top 250 Web sites last month, Nordstrom's site was the fifth fastest-growing inthe U.S., increasing 37 percent to 5.2 million unique visitors in July compared with June, according to comScore Inc., which measures Internet activity. (Nordstrom's jump could be attributed to a companywide sale in July.)

"We know that a lot of customers will use the Web site as a tool, shop from it sometimes and then purchase online," Boyd said. "Other times, they use it to look at what came in, and then they come into the store and buy something they've been looking at."

There is an aspect of online shopping that few people discuss--the boxes.Can I just say I really don't like boxes.
Fortunately my daughter's jeans came in a mylar envelope, but typically online packages come in boxes.

So here's what happens in my house. I have to find the box cutter and then without fail the product has been packed with those annoying Styrofoam popcorn thingees.  Have you ever tried to dump that popcorn into the garbage can?
Not going to happen.

They escape. They float. And, they are not easy to gather up.They have lots of static electricity which makes them very clingy. Someone needs to create a device that will easily capture those Styrofoam popcorn thingees into a bag that goes right back to the recycling center.

Then there's the box itself. You have to flatten it and prepare it for the recycling company. Let's face it, usually I just take it to the box section in the garage( yes, when you are an online shopper you have to have a box section in your garage) where once I month ( this is optimistic) I go through all the shopping boxes with the box cutter, tie them up in string and haul them out for the recyclers.

Now, if I had Blue II the bulldog ,my box issues could be solved.

Tried to find out if the box industry is enjoying an uptick. Let's just say it's easy to buy a box online than to find out how box sales are trending. If you can find that information, please share!

What's In A Name? Republicans Not Holding Events At Neighborhood House AKA Wellstone Center

The Paul and Sheila Wellstone Center for Community Building was on the approved list. A place where those who wanted to host events for the Republicans could have chosen to have an event.

If things had worked out, having the Republican Convention in town could have added about $100,000 to their budget. That's because the event planner in charge of trying to attract Republican revelers to this particular venue had commitments from all vendors that 10% of their fees would go to support the center.

When Kristi Shepherd Gray submitted five different proposals to have the Center host various events she was optimistic. If all five came through she would have a very profitable week. Even if just a few came through, it would still be great.

But none came through. Not one." Could it be the name of the venue  played a role?" I asked Kristi over a cup of coffee.

Kristi didn't think so.

I'm not so sure. As an outsider, I simply can't see a party sponsor sending out invitations to the movers and shakers of the Republican party that also has the name Wellstone on it.

If he were still alive today, Barack Obama would not be listed as the most liberal Democrat in the Senate. Wellstone would.

Of course, the center isn't a political place. It's a community place.A 2 year old $25 million dollar structure that is used for events, meetings, weddings and parties.It's a  place that works every day to implement  the very values that Republicans espouse: family values. With its classes to help immigrants learn English, its food shelf and computer labs.the Paul and Sheila Wellstone Center For Community Building plays an important role in St.Paul.

Kristi argues that the Republicans just aren't having as many parties as the RNC pitched. There is some evidence that's true. More on that at BlogHer

Image credit: MPR

FunnyBusiness's First Utter: Friday August 22, 2008

Trying out this new social media tool. Would love your feedback.

Mobile post sent by FunnyBusiness using Utterz. Replies.  mp3

Mad Men Uses Social Media To Promote Program

What Would Don Draper Think?

Mad Men, the summer TV series on AMC that just garnered 16 Emmy Nominations is taking advantage of the full force of  social media to promote --that would be advertise--- the series.
.

Not totally familiar with Mad Men? Megan Smith at BlogHer describes it this way.

The ad men of AMC's "Mad Men" are sleek, stylish and mired in a 60's culture that's been meticulously recreated.  They smoke like bad oil, they drink like cheap dates and they sleep around like they've earned the right. 

Three weeks into the show's second season and just a few weeks before going for sixteen primetime Emmy awards, "Mad Men" is maintaining its buzz.

Last night was Mad Men night. Didn't get a chance to see it and forgot to TiVo it?  No problem. You can watch it on AMC on Demand.

Don't have AMC on Demand? No worries you can watch it on iTunes where you can watch one episode for $1.99 or purchase a season pass.

At the end of last night's show there was the standard preview for next week,but with a twist. The announcer encouraged people to visit the website where they could see a more complete preview of next week's episode.

Unless I missed it, this was the first time that the announcer suggested that viewers visit the web site for a "better" preview.

Not only did they make the preview available to fans  online but they are encouraging fans to include the preview on their blogs.

In another world, that would be called a commercial.

Office Olympics: Paperclip Chains

From The UK, ButterwickHospice's Office Olympics

Office Olympics -Rowing

All week I'll be bringing you some of the finest Office Olympic events. This is absolutely brilliant.

American Killed in Beijing Was Minneapolis Businessman

In Minneapolis, the name Bachman is synonymous with flowers, plants, andl lots of purple. It was the CEO of Bachman's, Todd Bachman who was murdered at the Beijing Olympics on Saturday. From the Star Tribune

According to employees working Sunday, he was one of the most beloved of a long line of Bachmans who have continued to run the floral and garden centers. "I don't think that in 20 years I ever saw him mad," said Pfarr. "You could always go to him with anything, and he would always listen." He was named CEO in 1994 but shared control with his cousins, overseeing 1,300 employees at 29 locations.

Introducing Synchronized Office Swimming - Russian Style

If there were ever an Office Olympics - synchronized office swimming would definitely be a crowd favorite. From Neeteevee by way of twitter friend dirkthecow  Enjoy! You'll want to watch this more than once.

To Whatever Comes To Mind From One Russian Jewish American     for providing the translation; 

Before the clip they are saying: We are a team of female architects and this is our exercise!

The sign says: “Synchronized Swimming"

Janet at ExxonMobileCorp is still Twittering.

Janet, unsanctioned spokesperson for  Exxon Mobile Employee continues to send tweets and over 400 people continue to tweet back even though she is unsanctioned. Janet claims she is an employee. But she is definitely not a spokesperson and the incident has raised lots of red flags about the potential risk companies face when they do not monitor what's going on in social media spaces.

In the land of Twitter Exxon has been brand-jacked.

The folks at Exxon are now responding Jeremiah Owyang  of Forrester Research chatted with Exxon spokesperson Alan Jeffers.

Owyang offers up some key takeaways from faux Janet.

Lack of identity confirmation continues to plague the web
Companies must monitor their brand
An opportunity for the real Exxon to step forward
The community (myself included) need to first validate identities
Legal and Trademark issues complicate
Corporations should have internal social media policies
Update August 8: Zdnet has additional coverage on this bizarre case, Janet, in a recent tweet suggests she’s an actual employee, that’s standing by her employer. Zdnet suggests that companies should have internal social media policies, dictating where the guidelines are, a good point.