Wherefore Art Thou Journalism?

By on February 20th, 2007 In Media

I’ve dealt with a few editors over the years that have blatently said they’d run my story if we advertised, but this e-mail reply I got today one takes the cake:

Hello Len,
My name is XXX. I am the sales manager at the XXX News. We received your press release in regards to the XXX. We are a community newspaper, dedicated to the communities within the North Maricopa County area. While we strive to provide coverage to include everyone, we also survive on local advertising, from these very same businesses and individuals. We welcome press releases, but
ALWAYS give first priority to those that advertise with us. I have attached a rate card & demographics sheet for your consideration. Please contact me if you have any questions.
Best Regards~
XXX

By the way, the word ALWAYS was emphasized by her. I was going to leave her name and the name of her publication in just to be hard on her…but I’m a nice guy. :)

I guess there is no point pitching this newspaper. What do you think? I know the line can be blurred, but it’s not as if this is a trade magazine or anything — it’s a freakin’ newspaper!

Comments

Laine Seaton Says:
February 21st, 2007 at 2:43 pm

I thought this was one of the “cardinal rules” of journalism and that only truly unscrupulous folks did this? Still, in a recent PR book I read, there were quotes from editors across the country who clearly stated that they wouldn’t print a story unless the source advertised with them. They even sounded offended that the person pitching didn’t know this. What’s a PR person to do?

danwool Says:
February 21st, 2007 at 11:40 pm

One thing I learned working in-house at big companies is that most feature-y trade publications are pay for play.

Raised in the (now naive) objective journalism bubble like everyone else, it was a shock to me at first that part of my job in PR was also to be a negotiator/go-between between publishers and marketing VPs who set the ad budgets.

One particular company I worked for had a half million dollar ad budget in a trade glossy that called for 30 ads of varying sizes, two cover stories, a monthly rah rah op-ed by an exec, 6 one page features on various company divisions, company directory listings, a speaker slot at their annual conference and more annually. They had every major company locked in virtually the same way.

Same job: I confronted an influential online trade editor/publisher why she was continuing to trash the company in her coverage, she flat out said that it was because we had stopped advertising and if I could help get the ad budget restored, she’d see what she could do. I asked internally why had we stopped advertising. Answer: her shit coverage. We did this dance together every quarter.

I went to another in-house corp comm job in a different industry and saw the same thing. Now I see it everywhere.

Several Valley TV stations now have “marketing” programs. The most notable is KPNX’s midday show.

You cannot get on the radio in town unless you are an advertising client or celebrity. I blogged about this recently if you want more.

Should this be a big surprise though? Talent is scarce, margins are thin, and money makes the world go ’round.

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