Yesterday, well-respected blogger and former journalist (okay, that was awhile ago) Gary Goldhammer announced he has joined Edelman Inc. as a vice president in its Interactive Solutions division.
If you’ve read Gary’s blog at all, you know his posts — while infrequent compared to many bloggers — are very high quality and worth reading.
Other than maybe at top exec positions like presidents and CEOs (particularly in the auto industry), it seems that PR moves involving bloggers are much more publicized than in most other industries. After all, if you have a blog and you get a new job, that’s a great topic for a post! (And, for others as well 
.)
So, we know the personnel moves among bloggers quicker than we do so for non-bloggers (since we have to wait for the traditional media stories).
Gary’s posts are predominantly about journalism. So, in his post announcing his move, he wrote:
“This blog will not change. I will continue to focus on journalism, with a special emphasis on the current state and future of newspapers. . . . And since I never wrote about clients or my company before, I don’t plan to start now – so please, don’t expect me to comment if my new employer does something in the blogosphere you don’t like.”
While I’m sure Gary will maintain the focus of his blog, because of the interactive nature of blogs, he can’t expect readers not to ask questions about his employer — whether or not it “does something in the blogosphere you don’t like.”
He doesn’t have to answer those questions of course, but he shouldn’t be surprised if he gets questions about his silence as other Edelman bloggers have.
– Mike
