UK is a whole different animal. After all - you guys don't even have
FSIs!

And of course, that is why all us Americans who are looking for honest
newscasts watch the BBC on PBS instead of the BS on CNN...



"David Cartwright" wrote in
:

"Judah" wrote in message
. ..
Advertising pays the bills, and the newspaper's first allegiance is
to the advertiser. It's been that way pretty much from the very
beginning. Journalistic Integrity is only a priority if it doesn't
conflict with revenue generation.

In theory, perhaps, but not in practice.

In the publications I've worked for (UK IT press), and indeed still
work for, the editorial and advertising divisions have been
deliberately separate. While the editorial people are sufficiently
bright to realise that it's the advertising that pays their wages, the
advertising people are also sufficiently bright to realise that (a)
advertising revenue is proportional to size of readership; and (b)
size of readership is proportional to quality of editorial. The two
sides are therefore mutually sustaining.

I have had instances where advertisers have made hints that they'll
spend more if we write more about them (or, on rare occasions, if
we'll be nicer about them than in the past). In all cases, the answer
has been "no", and the publishers have stood behind us all the way.
Not that they had any choice, actually, because writers and editors
are fiercely protective of their personal integrity and reputation.

Interestingly, though, where an advertiser has been upset that we've
"not written enough about them" it has often been solved by a few
minutes on the phone explaning how the editorial process works. I
remember one case where we invited a furious advertiser to the office
to explain to him the relationship between ads and editorial, and he
went away smiling. All we'd done was point out that his PR people used
to send us, on average, ten press releases a week - all about piddly
little things, and none about their new product line (which was
actually quite nice!) - and that if they restrained themselves and
only told us, in decent sized chunks, when something happened that
actually mattered, he'd stand half a chance of being written about.

D.