PressEthic

Rex Smith, Editor of the Albany Times Union, wrote a poignant column on why separating the advertising and editorial functions of a newspaper is not just ethical, it is good business practice.

Smith explains that a newspaper has two groups of customers; its readers who pay for subscriptions and individual editions, and advertisers who pay to reach the aforementioned readers with their ad messages.

Smith explains that people are often skeptical that advertisers do not influence the content of newspapers. The TimesUnion has even been accused by the Columbia Journalism Review that it gave warm coverage to a new airline offering service at Albany International Airport, because it had bought substantial advertising in the paper. A claim Smith denies.

What I liked about Smith’s column is that he explains that newspapers rely on their credibility to sell newspapers. Readers are not buying propaganda. A newspaper will lose readership if it loses integrity. A newspaper that loses readership is of no use to advertisers.

This argument can be applied to those bloggers that run advertisements on their sites. If it becomes apparent that a blogger is being manipulated by his advertisers, he too will lose credibility and will lose visiters. Again this will result in the loss of advertisers.

I wonder if the decline in newspaper sales has anything to do with the reduction in trust readers have in their newspapers. Are readers becoming increasing cynical about content, and are locating their news from more reliable sources?

While newspapers practically speaking are a delivery mechanism for advertisements, this is not the reason most people buy them. Newspapers are bought by their readers to obtain reliable news coverage. Any form of media must remember that the moment they begin to lose credibility by introducing advertiser influenced content, they will begin to lose audience. At that point they are no longer valuable to the advertiser that they kowtowed to in the first place.