I don’t necessarily think that contributor programs are all bad—I’ve helped several major publications build them out—but I do think the public needs to be more informed about the difference between these styles of content. You might think you’re reading an article written by a professional journalist when, in reality, you are reading something written by someone who is paid so little for what they wrote that they can be a target for real bribes from the subject of their story (as has happened at contributor-heavy online publications like Forbes.com). Here’s an e-mail I just got, offering
