The Fourth Estate Beckons

When I made the decision to move away from accepting sponsors for this blog it was part of a longer-term plan.

As many of you already know, I have been at times critical of what I consider to be the absence of real objectivity in the coverage of our industry. It is not that there has been a deliberate attempt to deceive the public. The problem is that those who write about procurement are often beholden to those they are supposed to be covering due to financial dependency. In other words, it ‘s hard if not impossible, to bite the financial hand that you depend upon to keep the lights on.

Of course, this challenge is not limited to procurement. Check out my coverage of the Theranos scandal to see how a “dependent” industry press failed to ask the tough questions regarding that company’s activities and the resulting consequences.

Because of the above scenarios, I believed that it was important to sever the financial ties that bind one to the power towards whom a true media is supposed to speak.

Having done that successfully, the final stage of this transformation to total independence was to officially join the ranks of the Fourth Estate.

In the coming weeks, I will be receiving my press card which, I have been told will open doors to many events and sites, while providing added credibility to my requests for interviews.

Although I haven’t encountered too many challenges regarding access – you can listen to an excerpt of my interview with Canada’s then Trade Minister Stockwell Day regarding the Buy American story or my more recent interview with Nicole Verkindt who is a member of CBC’s acclaimed Dragon’s Den Next Gen show, I consider having a press card as being the exclamation point for a free and unfettered press.

Although some may argue that I have always been a maverick – Spend Matters’ Jason Busch once cautioned me about going “down the path of becoming the Fenimore Cooper of procurement blogs,” eschewing industry sponsors and getting my press card simply makes what I have been doing all along official.

Now all I need is a hat and a pencil permanently stuck behind my ear.

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