I just saw this article on the media lens site which should interest a few of you:
The Mythical Divide Between Journalism And Advertising
Here's a
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The Mythical Divide Between Journalism And Advertising
Here's a
In its latest annual report on media performance, US-based watchdog Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) noted that:
"Most people are aware that news media rely on corporate advertising dollars - though the fact is rarely discussed, and when it is, editors and producers will generally insist that there's no connection between the companies that buy ads and the content of the news." ('Fear and Favor - FAIR's Sixth Annual Report,' Extra!, March/April 2006; www.fair.org/index.php?page=2848)
Thus, here in Britain, Guy Keleny of The Independent claims:
"A free press, run commercially, has to set a firewall between the journalistic writing and the advertising that pays the bills. [...] The journalists do not allow their reporting to be muffled by the interests of advertisers, and the advertisers are free to say what they like in the space they have bought (subject to the law and industry codes) without regard to the newspaper's editorial opinions." (Guy Keleny, 'Errors & Omissions,' The Independent, October 7, 2006)
We wrote to Keleny on October 9, suggesting that the picture he painted of a firewall between reporting and advertising did not pertain to reality:
"For example, are you aware that last year BP and Morgan Stanley both issued directives demanding that their ads be pulled from any edition of a publication that included potentially 'objectionable' content? BP went so far as to demand advance notice of any stories that mention the company, a competitor of the company or the oil and energy industry in general. [FAIR, op.cit.]"
We pointed out that such agreements are not exceptional. We also quoted FAIR:
"While these demands may seem like an egregious intervention into the editorial process, the truth is, as one anonymous editor told [trade journal] Advertising Age (May 16, 2005), there's 'a fairly lengthy list of companies that have instructions like this.'"
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