Why Business Insider reporters travel gets paid by others

Lucia Moses of Digiday writes about how Business Insider reporters have sometimes traveled to report stories and have had their travel expenses covered by others.

Moses writes, “BI has published at least three stories in the past year that included a disclosure that a source paid expenses related to the coverage. A story by Steve Kovach about Samsung’s design philosophy, for example, includes the following disclosure: ‘Samsung paid for a portion of our trip to South Korea for this story, including the flight and some meals. Business Insider paid for lodging and all other expenses.’

“Another, about Chinese Internet company Tencent, ends with this revelation from the author, Nicholas Carlson: ‘Disclaimer: I was only in Beijing because Tencent paid for me to fly to China to be on a panel. I paid for my airplane ticket to Shenzhen, however.’

“A third, by Alyson Shontell, about a high-tech London hotel CitizenM, includes this disclosure: ‘London & Partners, a not-for-profit funded by the city’s mayor, paid for our flight and hotel to London this week to cover London’s startup scene. It paid the full price (about 400 pounds for three nights) at the CitizenM.’

“‘We do these very rarely — maybe a few a year — and we evaluate them on a case-by-case basis,’ explained Blodget. ‘The deciding factor is whether we think the trip will lead to stories that our readers enjoy. We always disclose any arrangements prominently (being clear and straightforward is the key). We also don’t guarantee any kind of coverage, or coverage at all.’

“He said in the London case, the story ‘sounded like a cool adventure that our readers might enjoy.'”

Read more here.