PressEthic

A great struggle within journalism institutions today is keeping editorial operations separate from business operations. One could call it a test of integrity for a media center when faced with covering a story based on news judgments rather than selling out for advertising dollars. But does issue of integrity come into play when it comes to Hollywood and advertisers?

This seems to be an increasingly important issue in the entertainment world. TV writers are facing a conflict of interest in an evolving world of “product placement advertising”. With the advent of TiVo, viewers are less likely to sit through commercials and therefore affect revenue dollars for advertising companies. Advertisers see product placement advertising as a way to maintain, and potentially increase cash earnings. However, writers for television sitcoms feel that this new method of promoting products and services is compromising their narrative styles and plot lines.

While this is a dilemma for writers who want to compose storylines to entertain audiences, not sell them something, the issue is still quite different to that within journalism. Advertisers should not get special editorial consideration because it affects readers’ and/or viewers’ decisions and actions. The press is a tool needed for democracy to work, and when business operations influence a news sound bite or a column, it trickles down and adversely affects the way a republic is run. Branded entertainment compromises creativity, which in turn, may or may not affect what a person watches. However, branded entertainment affects buying habits, not the day to day decisions that Americans make every day. Nonetheless, it is unfortunate that the stories in our favorite television shows are being compromised for marketing dollars.