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Online Advertorials Worry Watchdogs
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Advertorial Age
Posted by
Casey Green
11/9/2005 4:48:13 PM
My first-hand experiences in real-world journalism and advertising are limited to my college education. But, even as industry outsider, the rece...
My first-hand experiences in real-world journalism and advertising are limited to my college education. But, even as industry outsider, the recent issues with advertorials seem troubling, to say the least. One prime lesson continually stressed by professors and professionals is the distinction between advertising and news. So when reading about growing ethical dilemmas concerning the blending of the two, I am left wondering how the distinction has become so blurry and what can be done to rescue real news from big-biz corruption.
As for advertorials labeled as advertisements, I agree with Al Tompkins and see no problem. However, when it comes down to recent issues of car companies paying editorial writers to focus on the companies products in a favorable way or with internet advertorials not being labeled, the problems become very clear. One such problem, as mentioned by Tompkins, is a growing distrust of news coverage based on its seeming corruptibility by corporations. News organizations need to draw the line and maintain their integrity by not shaping news based on an outside business influence.
Should this trend go unexamined and unsolved, marketers will be quick to adopt advertorials without disclaimers as accepted measures of salesmanship, despite lingering watchdog criticisms. If paying for exposure in the news became an outwardly accepted way for editorialists to make extra money, soon enough it would be impossible to distinguish between what was the real news or just an advertisement.
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