Michael Scott, the boss from “The Office,” said it best when it come to swag: “Swag! Stuff we all get. I basically decorated my condo for free with all of my swag.”
Swag is the free stuff newsrooms get and it’s something journalists like it and can’t get enough of.
There’s a rumor circling that newspapers and the ink printed on them can influence the opinions of readers (there’s a bigger rumor that there are actually readers). With that, record labels, movie studios, publishers and the lady down the street who owns the pet care/beauty salon love sending schwag to reporters in the hope that they will write a ravishing review and that will help drive sales.
But what they don’t know is most local newspaper don’t do their own reviews. Most newspapers leave the movie/book/record review business to wire services. But since journalists always forget to inform the senders of swag of this information, the free stuff just rolls in. Though, most newspapers keep pet care/beauty salon reviews in house, so that woman down the street is probably getting her money’s worth.
Most newspapers have rules about who can get these prized pieces of swag. So tickets, CDs, books and shampoo samples are usually auctioned off to the journalist who answer questions correctly at company meetings or who volunteers to work the fifth Saturday shift in a row.
Still, journalists like swag. Not as much as free food, but pretty close.
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