The thin line between advertising and editorial departments.

The line between advertising and news becomes less clear everyday; news people have a responsibility of keeping the news untainted. More and more, papers are tying in stories and photos based on advertising and this can easily mislead readers into believing that news articles can be bought.

I believe one area that is particularly troublesome is the relationship between editorial and advertising departments. Facing constant pressure from advertising, news departments often must decide whether to pursue the story or whether they may put a major advertiser in bad light. on the other hand, a story suggested by advertising, while possibly news worthy, is at least immediately suspect because one wonders about the motivation behind the idea.



Television in particular, has allowed advertising to influence it's programming having networks airing more and more programs in which the line that separates news from entertainment has grown increasingly fuzzy.