PressEthic

In a 7 Sept. 2006 media commentary piece on Slate.com, Jack Shafer discusses a growing trend in newspaper ad placements: the return of Page One and section front ads.

This past July, The Wall Street Journal drew attention in the media world when it announced that it will sell front page ad space. However, Shafer notes that this is not as revolutionary as it may seem -- such front page ads were common in the 1890s and are currently the norm for European publications and even our homegrown USA Today.

In response, some press ethicists have raised concerns that buyers of such prime (and costly) ad space could leverage their increased financial stake to wield undue editorial influence over a newspaper's content. Specifically, Shafer quotes The Poynter Institute's Kelly McBride (who so ably walked this fall's incoming NYU J-schoolers through basic press ethics on orientation day), who argues in a July 2006 "Everyday Ethics" column that the front page should be strictly reserved for news.

McBride writes:

"...I hope that there is a healthy discussion going on in every news organization about the tensions that exist between business values and journalism values. That's where the tradition comes into play.

It's not a tradition that absolutely rejects front-page advertising, for no such tradition exists. Rather, it's a tradition that speaks clearly about the public service role of journalism.

This tradition emphasizes the belief that journalism has a very special responsibility in our society. The journalism -- both in process and product -- should be protected from out-of-proportion commercial interests.

If we are to keep moving toward more advertising content that competes with the premium news space, we must make sure the journalism does not suffer. If we keep cutting the news hole on the front page, the section fronts and throughout the paper, we must find ways to make the journalism all the stronger."

For his part, Shafer points to Business Week's Jon Fine's assertion that "ad placement only becomes an issue if it causes newspapers to coddle advertisers." Shafer backs this up with a recent example from Page One of the 7 Sept. 2006 Wall Street Journal, which he notes:

"features an HP ad on the front page, and the lead story is about the ongoing HP boardroom scandal."

Morever, Shafer emphasizes, front page ads can provide a much needed boost for publications struggling to survive despite nearly a decade of "flat-lining" ad revenues.

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Do front page ads open the door to ethical complications by concentrating a large portion of ad revenues with one single advertiser? Or are such doomsday predictions of undue advertiser influence too extreme, too negative, and rooted in the unfair assumption that newspapers are, by default, unable to stick to the guns of their editorial integrity when facing pressure from special interests?

It's no secret that the integrity of barriers separating editorial and business concerns is sometimes questionable. Indeed, allegations of bias and conflicts of interest relating to influence exerted by advertisers, publishers, etc. are nothing new. Given this, it's certainly wise to carefully consider the warnings issued by media watchdogs.

However, perhaps we must learn to accept that a pristine, ad-free Page One will soon be relic of the past. Due to intensified competition for advertising dollars from broadcast and online media, newspapers face an unprecedented struggle to maintain and increase the revenues that fund reporting. Rather than constituting shoddy (or gawdy) editorial practice, one could argue that the reemergence of front page ads is merely part of the reality of surviving in a newspaper industry increasingly driven by bottom-line business concerns.

Page One ads may introduce an additional level of ethical complexity (or "tension," as McBride aptly labels these competing concerns) that must be considered in order to preserve a newspaper's independence. But editors and reporters are no strangers to complexity and controversy and, as such, should be well-equipped to grapple with these ethical issues. Forced to choose between "folding instead of selling Page One ads," as Shafer notes, print publications must perhaps alight from ivory towers, if only in the interest of surviving in order to carry on their public service, watchdog role.