As Black Friday nears, the Nieman Journalism Lab discussed possible issues that modern journalists face when writing articles that may involve possible advertisers that work with their publication. The main concern: do you avoid any writing that could shine a negative light on these advertisers OR do you risk the possibility of losing money for your publication/risk getting fired for doing so?
Caroline O'Donavan writes about a Buzzfeed staffer who claims he was recently fired for articles criticizing Axe and other big funders of the Website. In his words:
Ben Smith made me delete a post I did on Axe Body Spray’s ads, titled, “The Objectification Of Women By Axe Continues Unabated in 2013″ (it was initially called something to the effect of “Axe Body Spray Continues its Contribution to Rape Culture,” but I quickly softened it). Get this: he made me delete it one month after it was posted, due to apparent pressure from Axe’s owner Unilever. How that’s for editorial integrity?
Understanding that no online news outlets are immune to pressure from advertisers, would you avoid risky topics dealing with a company if there could be repercussions for yourself or your publication? Or would you write the piece anyway?
I feel like this is one of the toughest questions all of us will face when we're in the industry. While I would love to support the notion that all journalists should stand up for what they believe in, there's an obvious business force behind it, and its effects are on full display in the case of this BuzzFeed staffer. I believe if the media company has a conflict of interest with an advertiser, writers should steer clear of either positive or negative pieces.
ReplyDeleteAs much as I would like to stay that I'd want to stick to my guns as a journalist and write the piece anyway, I know that if I were in this situation in the real world then I'd most likely avoid such a risky topic. But there are always loopholes when it comes to writing (at least in my mind). Instead of writing specifically about the brand, I could write about a vaguely broad category of men's products or product-advertising targeted at men and sweep in some examples from other companies/advertisers that don't have any affiliation with my news organization.
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