Wandering around the The Times website today, I stumbled across the Shreveport paper's entertainment section -- and a curious selection of travel stories. The Times, it turns out, has a content-sharing agreement with USA Today, under which the Gannett flagship provides travel stories to Shreveport.But holy mislabeled advertising! As the screenshot from the Times website shows (above), those "Specials and Deals'' are just links to Travelocity, Orbitz and other companies selling trips. Update on Wednesday: See the revealing follow-up, in the comments section, below.
Got an example of advertising on your paper's site that's presented as editorial copy? Use this link to e-mail your reply; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the sidebar, upper right. Or leave a note in the comments section, below.
Thou protests too much, me thinks.
ReplyDeleteIt would appear that this is Gannett Bashing, pure and simple.
I notice you did not mention that most of the Gannett papers also publish a graphic with a list of travel fares from their home market to various major airports as a news feature. I'm sure when you were in news management, you argued that those were there as a readership item. why is it different here?
What part of "Specials and Deals" didn't sound like something for sale?
ReplyDeleteTicky Tack strategy.
the same part that allows newsrooms across the company to publish cover charges, drink prices, hours, etc. in their weekly entertainment sections as "what's happening" news content when it is blatantly self promotion and not news?
ReplyDeleteTo Anon@2:52
ReplyDelete1. Wondering out loud whether the company is blurring the line between editorial and advertising is not Gannett "bashing.'' It's watchdog journalism. And, BTW: Gannett says bolstering watchdog journalism is key to saving its print papers; see this post http://tinyurl.com/2o5pov
2. The airfare graphics features you mentioned are produced by reporters and editors. To the best of my knowledge, there's no revenue-sharing involved in those features.
Yet, when I hover my mouse over the "Specials and Deals" I mentioned in this post, I see "ShermansTravel.com" just before I click on them. Gannett owns nearly 20% of ShermansTravel. That strongly suggests there's some revenue-sharing going on. In other words, these sure look like advertising links to me -- not editorial.
Jim,
ReplyDeleteRefer back to the earlier post. Running cover charges, hours, etc. as news content is mentioning specials and deals even though there is not a web link.
So if I read your comment correctly, it's not advertising if its placed by a Reporter or Editor but God forbid anyone else should follow the same lead. Seems rather hypocritical that only journalists have the ability to distinguish what kinds of information are relevant to readers. You might want to spend a little time researching why people actually read newspapers and or view online(the total product including advertising) and what their primary reason for use is. You might just find that a high percentage of readers buy the newspaper for advertising information and a high percentage of online users are actually looking for product information.
Please re-read my original post: This is about whether something presented as editorial should have been labeled advertising.
ReplyDeleteWell, Jim, isn't more of the question whether there is a revenue sharing with the links? If there isn't, then isn't it reasonable for the paper to point to the location where the reader can access the "special"? Would it be any different if the word "orbitz" was listed before the link?
ReplyDeleteIf the story highlights the deal, then linking to it is reasonable to provide the information to the reader.
In my book, the evidence is conclusive: Those links involve revenue sharing, which makes them advertising presented as editorial. Until someone can prove to me otherwise, I'm sticking with my original post.
ReplyDeleteJim,
ReplyDeleteWould you also be willing to eliminate all the copy in the entertainment sections that is presented as news but is actually nothing more than free advertising for Joe's Bar?
The newsprint could be used for more true journalism, local reporting and watchdog activities.
The side benefit is that some of those free notices might actually end up as piad advertising that would improve the revenue picture and reduce the pressures on cost reductions.