A host for an amalgam of science bloggers is in trouble with some of its writers because it agreed to "host a blog sponsored by Pepsi where the soft drink company's employees would write about nutrition," according to a news site at nature.com.

I'm glad that the bloggers have risen up — it's very important, without a doubt. But this is the world where bloggers often give their content to profit-making enterprises for pennies, if that, on the hope that the exposure will eventually pay off. Most of those writers will be less read, now that they've left their platform.

What remains is the disgusting corporate-speak. From the site: "In a statement to Nature, Joy Moore, a vice-president of Seed Media Group, said, 'We are sad to see bloggers move, but will keep reading them as fans regardless. We've always talked about ScienceBlogs as an experiment in science communication — new, risky, and difficult but exciting and with plenty of potential for positive impact on science literacy.'"

It's just gross.

"Risky"? Are you kidding? The risk is all ours, as gatekeepers continue to sell out, to move the line of propriety just a little farther away. Who would ever turn to Pepsi for nutritional advice? Who could ever trust a paid Pepsi mouthpiece to say anything in the public good if it might possibly ever conflict with Pepsi interests?

Thanks to my friend Ron T., for passing on the link.