This story on MLive from the Gazette illustrates what happens when the walls between advertising and editorial come down, which is something the new management at MLive Media Group boasted about recently.
Maybe they should put one of those 'Deal' monikers on these kinds of stories.
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6 comments:
MLive, which gives away news, now is offering free advertising, as well. What a business model!
They just had something similar in annarbor.com today about a new type of eyeglasses.
Good god rosemary Parker ... Are you that desperate for a paycheck?
I let the last comment go, but as a former reporter I was made to do a lot of stories I thought were stupid. And yes, a paycheck was a strong motivator at the time.
There were things I wouldn't do (sneak into a funeral was one) even if an editor asked me to, but I was in a stronger position than reporters today are.
I'm not blaming the reporter for the story. There were plenty of levels of editors above her who apparently thought this was a worthy news story.
Not much different than a advertising section in Popular Mechanics that looks like it is part of the magazine, or a half an hour ad on Sunday morning radio that tries to sound like an actual call in show..
Anon 9:34.....the difference is that "advertorial" products are required to be identified as such. Making an advertising look to be editorial is an efficient marketing tool, but somewhere, somehow, you'll note its identification. Anyone involved in journalism for the past 25 years can tell you manufacturers and retailers sending press releases in an attempt to get a story about a new product is as old as newspapers. This is a whole new animal and I'm with Jim...any reporter worth his or her salt probably went home and cried about being forced to do this for a paycheck. But many of us do things for paychecks now that we thought impossible just a few years ago. But that's because there is no real journalism now, just a job writing stories that are handed down by editors concerned with keeping the bottom line alive enough to line their own pockets. The ethical lines are now as blurry as the space between offices for newsroom and advertising. It would save so much trouble if they would just have one staff that writes stories they are paid to write about stuff from advertisers.
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