It’s now out in the open: Mediacare curator says he’s representing Billy

There is one lesson that those who dabble in the blogosphere and the Net should never forget: there is nowhere to hide.

It’s OK to advocate something, its OK to be passionate and to take sides but at all times you need to disclose your motives or where you are coming from or your street creds take a hit.

Such is the case with Mediacare, a mailing list in Yahoo Groups and now a blog by Radityo. Observers became very suspicious when all of a sudden the owner of the mailing list and the blog took a sudden passionate interest in the Billy Sindoro case.

The suspicions have come to a crescendo. Today one of Unspun‘s colleagues responded to Radityo’s request for topics and speakers on the mailing list in this thread. He asked if this talkshow would be neutral and whether it would be free from payments. He was careful to disclose that his PR firm represented Astro.

Then another member of the mailing list by the name of Gita Mayana adds her comment to the mailing list. her comment:

gmana mau bebas nilai..? lha wong penggagasnya aja media konsultannya Lippo.. Tapi oke, saya usul, ambil narsumnya Halim Mahfud, jubirnya PT Direct Vision.

To which Radityo responded:

Wah Mbak Gita dapat “bisikan” dari Mama Laurens ya kok bisa nebak-nebak kalau saya media konsultannya Lippo?

Tapi sayangnya salah tuh tebakannya. Sepertinya Lippo punya konsultan media sendiri deh, dan nama saya tak tercantum disitu.

Biar tidak salah sangka, perlu saya jelaskan bahwa 2 bulan lalu saya diminta gabung dalam tim humas Gani Djemat & Partners. Di tahun ini dan tahun depan ada beberapa kliennya yang perlu dukungan litigation PR. Kebetulan law firm ini ditunjuk oleh Billy Sindoro pribadi untuk menangani kasus hukum yang dihadapinya. Saya tegaskan, Billy Sindoro pribadi, sama sekali tak ada kaitannya dengan Grup Lippo.

Semoga Mbak Gita jadi jelas. Btw, Mbak Gita bekerja di media mana?

salam,

radityo

So now the truth is out. Radityo’s sudden interst in the Billy Sindoro case is because he’s been retained by Billy Sindoro to provide Litigation Support for Gani Djemat & Partners. Unspun’s question is this: Should Radityo have declared that the contents on his blog and mailing list had something to do with his client from the outset? Dos this affect the credibility of mediacare as a forum of discussion for journalists and communicators?

(Unspun‘s disclosure: Read the About page. Also, readers need to know that although Unspun‘s firm represents Astro, the client has not asked Unspun to blog anything on their behalf. Unspun blogged about this issue because he feels that something needs to be unspun in Mediacare. Unspun would also love to debate Radityo head on, mano-a-mano or blogger-a-blogger, on the points he’s trying to make on the Billy Sindoro case.)