Another FTC Rules Violation?

First Google, then Gwyneth Paltrow, then Loft clothing stores. Now questions are being raised about whether the relationship between HBO and a Hollywood blogger runs afoul of the Federal Trade Commission's rules requiring bloggers to disclose paid endorsements.   

The Village Voice's "Runnin' Scacred" blog and movie columnist David Polland have both questioned whether Hollywood blogger Nikki Finke violated the FTC rules by publishing tidbits about Tilda, a forthcoming HBO series about a female Hollywood blogger with similarities to Finke.  Enough similiarities, it seems, that HBO reportedly was negotiating with Finke to avoid litigation over the show.

Finke's posts on Tilda are similar to other online coverage of the show's development. But if Finke does, indeed, have a financial arrangement with HBO, the FTC rules may, indeed, require her to disclose the relationship in her posts on the show.

That's what happens when a government agency imposes rules to enforce what is essentially an issue of journalism ethics.