I'm not sure where the story is when the recent research of the fifth annual PRWeek/Manning Selvage & Lee Marketing Management Survey which found that 17 percent of senior marketers said they bought advertising in exchange for a news story.
“These results indicate that there continues to be a group of marketing executives that do not respect the proper role of news media,” said Mark Hass, global chief executive officer of MS&L, in a statement. “Even the smallest percentage of people who are willing to pay in return for a news story creates an ethical issue that the marketing industry needs to address.”
On the surface this sounds like a real concern, but when we consider the so-called unnamed sources that the media uses to create many of their stories, there's no way to check their credibility either. You just have to take the word of a reporter.
This thing called "independent editorial credibility" or whatever you want to call it, is has really never existed. It's an illusion. An illusion to make people believe they're getting unfiltered, objective stories. Oh you mean like the New York Times (NYT)?
For Hass to say that marketers need to respect the "proper" role of media shows the reason why things are so poor in the industry, and it's not because of the Internet alone, it's because the "proper" role of media has been to dictate the stories they want people to read about, not the stories that are continually spiked or not presented in the first place. All this really is, is another way of whining about losing their gatekeeper status.
As far as the study goes, I'd be willing to bet that the 17 percent number is a lot higher than stated. A lot of respondents probably didn't want to go on record.
Part of marketing is to look for ways to get your message out there. To buy advertising and ask for a story is perfectly legitimate.
Another part of the survey said that 7 percent of those responding said there was an implicit/nonverbal agreement where favorable coverage was expected in exchange for advertising. In this case it's a matter of saying yes or no. If writers believe in what is being offered, what's wrong with them writing about it?
In the end, media needs to have things to write about. To say businesses or marketers are wrong to offer payment or incentives to get a story is naive.
This is another reason why so many newspapers are faltering. They consider themselves sitting as gods in judgment of many people or corporations; having nothing but bad to talk about them. That to me is the real underlying issue.
To call this an ethics issue is ridiculous. It's just part of doing business.
Comment Preview