ANALYSIS: Small Papers And Advertisers — Maintaining Ethics
Journalists are probably among the most maligned professions in America, with the phrases “biased media,” “fake news,” and more dominating any discourse on media for years.
Accusatory nicknames such as “the Clinton News Network” for CNN, for example, indicate that the Democratic Party purchases huge ads that dictate political coverage on CNN .
Yet ironically, journalists consider themselves generally unbiased and fact-based, and in fact, adhere to a standard of ethics — sometimes perhaps too staunchly, but that’s a different discussion — called the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics. And in fact, one of those codes speaks directly to the issue of bias towards advertisers, and other potential sources of revenue:
“Deny favored treatment to advertisers, donors or any other special interests, and resist internal and external pressure to influence coverage.”
“Refuse gifts, favors, fees, free travel and special treatment, and avoid political and other outside activities that may compromise integrity or impartiality, or may damage credibility.”
No serious journalist does not abide by the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics to some degree. As John Santucci said in class, the “biased reporting” many complain about in prime time television are actually the network’s editorial — their daytime reporting is usually perfectly ethical and unbiased.
Love it or hate it, though, news media is a business — and the actual journalism is just one of the products. Journalists must be aware of what their product and brand is, and report accordingly. At a local newspaper, your brand is just that — local news. Advertisers are also a part of the product, and to a serious journalist following the Code of Ethics, this immediately becomes a problem.
As newsrooms have downsized this century, particularly local newsrooms, these places suddenly find themselves much more dependent on advertisers financially than in years past, and this compromises local papers’ ability to do good, honest reporting.
Two established Long Island local journalists had a lot to say about this — protecting the brand while doing honest journalism.
CAROLYN JAMES: BE FIRM, STEADFAST — AND EMPOWER THE NEWSROOM
Carolyn James is the publisher and editor-in-chief of the Babylon Beacon, Massapequa Post, and Amityville Record, three award-winning local weeklies on Long Island. She is also a professor of journalism at Hofstra.
As editor and publisher, James walks the fine line between sales and editorial. She believes that this issue should actually be firmly out of the hands of the journalists, and starts at the top of the newsroom.
“It has to be embedded into the philosophy for the editorial staff as well as for the sales staff, and they have to be trained on how to address the issue,” James said. “You give them words and phrases. An ad sales representative is there to sell an ad — they can give the advertiser contact information for editorial, but it is not in their power to guarantee that a story will be written about them. And vice versa — a reporter is there to collect a story, they can give a number for sales, but cannot guarantee that the ad runs in the paper.”
James added that young reporters in particular can fall victim to strong-arming by both local businesses and their own sales department, which makes it incumbent upon the publisher to ensure that the entire newsroom is aware of the ethics they must follow.
This, of course, takes some fortitude, and the understanding that you will likely lose revenue going about with this philosophy. James recalled a story when she first purchased the newspapers, when there was an election coming up.
“We had an advertiser who was running for office, who ordered $10,000 in advertising,” James said. “I got the first ad. And one of the things in the ad says ‘My opponent was arrested and convicted of having illegal drugs in his possession.’”
James could not verify this information due to sealed court records, and chose not to run this ad. As a result, the candidate pulled all of their advertising.
“To rub salt in the wound, one of the other local weeklies did print it exactly as they had sent it to us with the allegation,” James added. “But I look back, and I have absolutely no qualms about what I did.”
SCOTT BRINTON: THIS COULD BE STOPPED BEFORE IT’S EVEN A PROBLEM
Scott Brinton was at the Herald for nearly 30 years, serving as a reporter, editor, senior editor, and eventually executive editor of every single Herald community newspaper. He agrees with Carolyn James that the newsroom must be steadfast in their pursuit of ethical journalism.
“It was always my position that there must be a ‘firewall’ between the newsroom and the advertising department,” Brinton said. “It is impossible for journalists to do their jobs if they must worry about whether to cover a local business owner/advertiser who may have broken the law or have been involved in some other form of malfeasance. Advertising representatives build relationships with advertisers. Journalists should maintain cordial relations until they must cover the bad and the ugly. Too often, advertising representatives, particularly new ones, do not understand the concept of the firewall. They assume the editorial department is there to service the advertising department. And so there can be a push and pull, a tension, between the two departments, even in newsrooms that maintain strict firewalls.”
Brinton adds that when he first started, the firewall concept was much more strictly enforced, but in recent years has become much looser. But according to him, there is a way for this to not even be a problem — and it’s to put the financial dependence of the paper not on advertisers, but on readers themselves.
“Publishers, I believe, must begin with the premise that they must create an editorial product that is so essential to their local audiences that they must subscribe,” Brinton said. “The New York Times is an example of a publication that is now largely or primarily funded through subscriptions. In terms of audience, it’s thriving. Its digital subscription base now tops 9 million. Twenty years ago, before the internet had really taken hold, its print base numbered around 1.6 million, with no online base to speak of. The Times management saw the future and grabbed it.
“What many publishers and more so advertising directors too often do not see is that at the end of the day, they are not selling advertising. They are selling the value of the editorial product, which, particularly in recent years, has been undermined by economic and political forces that year by year erode the value of this product.”
Brinton added that events is another potential alternative revenue source to advertising, although it is too new to say for certain if this will prove to be an effective source of revenue for local media.
“It’s up to publishers, editors and advertising directors to work together to convey the value of their editorial content to audiences so they want to buy their product — the subscription,” Brinton said. “Too often, though, the inclination is to cut editorial staff as a cost-saving measure rather work in a concerted effort to brand a publication as invaluable to the public interest, which, of course, it must be in the first place. It has always amazed me that newspapers are in the communication business, and yet they often fail to communicate their value proposition to the public.”
ESTABLISHING RELATIONSHIPS — A PERSONAL EXPERIENCE
In the interim, before anything major is changed in the local media industry, I feel that journalists can take the initiative to ensure they maintain integrity without costing themselves revenue. Not every reporter gets to have editors and publishers as steadfast and fearless as James and Brinton.
I was the reporter and editor for the Wantagh Herald from May 2022 to July 2023. The paper is extremely small — maybe 32 pages on a big week, with maybe about 9 pages of news maximum — heavily dependent on advertisers.
One of our bigger advertisers was Republican State Senator Steve Rhoads. He was elected to office during the time I was at the Herald.
Seeing an opportunity to build a good relationship, I did a profile piece on the newly-elected senator when he took office. It’s fluffy and mostly positive.
You could make the case that this story was unethical — but I disagree. It’s of interest to the readership of the Wantagh Herald to know more about their new state senator.
The point of this is to build a relationship of trust with an advertiser. I was short-staffed at the paper and Wantagh is a quiet area with little news. The paper needs ads, and I as a reporter needed sources.
Later that year, I had to report on him writing a letter to New York State begging them to let Wantagh keep its Native American logo and name. Naturally, I had to get an opposing comment to make it fair, and that comment was from the Shinnecock Indian Nation.
Senator Rhoads was not happy that I ran a comment directly opposing his view in the article. But he accepted it, did not pull ads, and continued to be a reliable source when necessary.
My point here is that I feel journalists can and should build relationships with advertisers, and build trust. Sen. Rhoads knew me, and understood that I was just doing my job of fair and balanced coverage — had I not done so, he may have been more apt to think I was biased and putting the Shinnecock Nation’s views over his just to expose him as bigoted.
