The alternative is to not take advertising. There are publications that do not, and there are publications that do. If you want to be a blogger and to take advertising, two things happen immediately.

The first is that oneis then in some way beholden to the advertisers. That is fine if one accepts that fact and fallacy if one does not.

The second is that the type of advertising taken does matter. If a blogger takes adds from K-J and then reviews K-J wines or simply does stories about them, questions are going to be raised and some of the conclusions drawn, whether fair or not, or not going to be pretty.

It seems to me that if the blogosphere is ever going to amount to much more than a discussion board, it is going to have to become professional. Alder Yarrow may not think he is professional, but anybody who attends professional trade tastings, takes notes and makes hundreds of evaluations the way he does is acting like a professional, not an amateur. I have no problem with that. The more the better, but beware what you wish for. There are consequences, both good and perhaps not so good, for bloggists who become professional.

And lest one think that this very smart and entertaining blog is not professional, just remember that there is no way Steve could know all he knows without devoting his life to it.

As to sponsorships (ads), why not? Assuming that the pay per view model is still a long way off and the inheritance has dwindled, what is the alternative?

That and besides, watches and food go together perfectly, how else would you know it’s time to eat?

That is why it will be a long time before folks like Breitling sponsor wine blogs. And that is also why I am suspicious of sponsored blogs. The idea initially behind blogs is their total independence.

An online blog with sponsorship is a magazine. It is professional. Now, Steve is a professional but he is writing here without sponsorship. Alder Yarrow makes a point in his blog today that he is not a professional. I might argue that point, but the minute that the blogosphere goes professional, it is simply another service for fee.

I have no problem with that either. My little part of the wine biz is a service for fee–and thankfully I get enough fees to make a living tasting wine.

But, bloggers, beware what you wish for. Yarrow says “no deadlines, no quotas to fill”. When someone is paying you to reach a set number of eyeballs on a schedule with minimum number of words, your world will change. For guys like Steve and me and others of us who comment here, we are already in that boat with out day jobs. When you get paid to blog, that becomes your day job.

A fair question. Why does Breitling watches sponsor Ming Tsai’s video podcast about food?