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Is paid content killing information integrity?


Vera DordickOnce upon a time, you opened up the newspaper and you would find two types of content: news stories and advertisements. It was obvious which was which, and never the twain should meet or it would sully journalistic integrity. In the early days of the internet, you could also find two things: content and banner ads. But now, thanks to cataclysmic changes in media, technology and tactics, it’s all one big mash up.

Whether you call it branded content, sponsored content, paid content or native advertising, readers don’t necessarily know what they’re reading is actually advertising. The new mode of advertising and marketing is to create content that talks about your brand in the guise of articles providing useful information.  This concept isn’t new: Hard copy publications have done this for a long time, but they have always slapped “Special Advertising Section” on the paid-for pages.  There’s no such caveat on web pages, Facebook posts or tweets promoting specific brands. If it looks like editorial content and reads like editorial content, is it? Will readers smell that something is rotten in Denmark?

Image courtesy of Boaz Yiftach at

As the New York Times points out, advertisers are being driven to sponsored content because we’ve gotten smart about internet usage:  Just like we now fast-forward through television ads on the DVR, we’ve stopped clicking on banner ads. Advertisers’ only route to pulling you in is through content that they pay for and control. The squishy new field of paid editorial content already has led to some big goof-ups: The Atlantic, for example, had to apologize for a Scientology ad that looked like its editorial content.

The internet has been the big leveling factor in media– anyone can be a writer, blogger, or expert as long as he or she has a computer, WordPress, and social media accounts. You no longer need to be a reporter for a media outlet to have a voice that has worldwide reach. That can be a great thing. But what happens to journalistic integrity when the stories being told are really ads? When brand advertising masquerades as news, is there still such a thing as objectivity? Does it matter any more?

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Vera Dordick

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