Rumors are flying in the blogosphere about strange sightings of what might be a viral campaign that may be promoting or trashing CNN - or both - reports Wired. It seems blogger Nick Lewis noticed an odd comments post about CNN on his blog last week criticizing new CNN news shows but providing show times and the anchors hosting them; he checked other blogs and found the same comments. The network itself may be trying to create buzz, he thought.

Even if negative - one comment calls a show "trashy," surely an invitation to watch - the blog chatter may encourage viewers to watch the new programming. A CNN spokeswoman denied the network is behind the posts: "CNN has not created such a campaign." She did not say whether someone else may be doing so on its behalf.

Whoever is behind the posts, companies are starting to pay attention to what's being said about them on blogs, writes Wired. Issue Dynamics, a veteran public-affairs company, has launched a blogger relations unit to act as liaison between companies and blogs.