#advertising ethics | Ethics AdviceLine for Journalists

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By Casey Bukro

Ethics AdviceLine for Journalists

Advertisers sometimes make demands and threats.

It’s common for advertisers to push ideas for stories about their products on the editorial staff, said the editor of an interior design magazine.

But one advertiser was so extreme, she called AdviceLine for advice.

“They have an advertiser bully who is demanding that they write stories promoting the bully’s products,” the AdviceLine adviser wrote in the case report. If the magazine refused, the advertiser threatened to cancel his ad account, worth $30,000, one of the magazine’s largest accounts.

A long-time client

The advertiser told the ad sales team that he has been a long-time client and “deserves something in return,” suggesting that competing publications offer such incentives.

The magazine’s ad team agrees that the advertiser’s requests are wrong, but they are desperate to keep his account. Meanwhile, the magazine’s publisher suggests publishing a story that looks like “sponsored content,” but the demanding advertiser will not be asked to pay for it.

Typically, the magazine writes sponsored content, then asks advertisers to sponsor the story and identifies the sponsor. But that would not happen with the demanding advertiser, “since the publisher’s idea is to placate the client/bully.”

Quickly agree

In her report on this case, the AdviceLine adviser said: “We quickly agreed that both the bully’s request and the publishers resolution were unethical.”

The editor was not in doubt about that, but wondered if AdviceLine could suggest practical advice about how to navigate the situation. The adviser said:

“I suggested reminding the publisher and the client/bully about the sensible reasons behind their editorial policy and the dangers to everyone if they violate them (readers lose faith, other advertisers demand similar payback deals, etc.)

Good reasons

“A conversation about the good reasons behind the policy enables her to stand her ground without directly accusing the publisher or the advertising client of wrongdoing, which can sometimes reduce tensions and promote clearer thinking. She thought she would try that.”

The editor’s in-house conversations so far had mostly focused on her reasons for not wanting to do what the client was asking, so it felt like a “me against them” conversation instead of a “what’s the right thing to do” conversation. The adviser added:

“I also raised the possibility that the client/bully could be bluffing, so standing their ground might not result in a lost account. When she asked, I also told her she could mention the fact that she spoke with me and I shared her concerns.”

Publisher’s response

The adviser and the editor also talked about the possibility that her publisher would not take no for an answer. The adviser said:

“It sounds like she would resign if she had to, so then we talked about the ethics surrounding that. I acknowledged the temptation to broadcast her reasons if she resigned, but recommended that she just cite a difference of editorial policy and focus on what her own policies are regarding journalistic integrity, rather than sharing the details of the case. She agreed that there isn’t a compelling need for whistle blowing here.

“I don’t think I really helped her see anything she didn’t know already, but she said it helped her to talk through it since, while it’s a relatively ‘easy’ issue ethically, it’s potentially a tough one for her magazine financially.”

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The Ethics AdviceLine for Journalists was founded in 2001 by the Chicago Headline Club (Chicago professional chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists) and Loyola University Chicago Center for Ethics and Social Justice. It partnered with the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University in 2013. It is a free service.

Professional journalists are invited to contact the Ethics AdviceLine for Journalists for guidance on ethics. Call 866-DILEMMA or ethicsadvicelineforjournalists.org.

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By Casey Bukro

Ethics AdviceLine for Journalists

It’s generally recognized that keeping the news side of a media company separate from the business side is the ethical way to do business.

The Society of Professional Journalists code of ethics is very specific on that point: “Deny favored treatment to advertisers, donors or any other special interests, and resist internal and external pressure to influence coverage.”

Yet AdviceLine occasionally gets calls or emails from journalists worried that their bosses are crossing that bright line.

One of those callers was an online editor working for a trade publication.

“She wrote a brief item that drew a complaint from sales staff because an advertiser was not mentioned,” wrote David Craig in his case report. “She said her editor is pressuring her to add information about the advertiser even though she does not think it fits with the original story. She was looking for confirmation that this is an ethical problem and trying to decide how to respond.”

This editor is like other journalists who contact AdviceLine: She has a hunch she has an ethics problem and wants confirmation to be sure. And like others, she wants guidance on how to tell her bosses they are straying from good ethical practices – a very delicate situation.

“We talked about the SPJ code and I agreed that there’s an ethical problem here based on the principle of acting independently,” Craig went on in his report. “She was considering quitting her job, so I asked her whether this kind of request was part of a pattern or an isolated incident, and whether the incident itself was serious enough to justify quitting now versus making her case for ethical conduct.

“She said this had not happened before but she is troubled by the support for the advertiser’s view.”

The online editor explained that she had drafted an email to her supervisor asking for the removal of her byline from the story in question, and that she thought the decision to add information about the advertiser was unethical.

Craig suggested that she explain why she thought it was unethical and that her position was based on the SPJ code of ethics, “so it was clear this was not just her individual judgment but reflected the standards of the profession.”

The caller decided to raise the point about acting independently and to include a link to the SPJ code in her email to her editor.

AdviceLine has no further information on this case, so the outcome is not known. But journalists who contact AdviceLine often express appreciation for having someone to call in cases like this and to talk about the issues involved. The discussion often leads to some ideas on how to overcome the ethics dilemma.

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Professional journalists are invited to contact the Ethics AdviceLine for Journalists for guidance on ethics. Call 866-DILEMMA or ethicsadvicelineforjournalists.org.