advertising & censorship

[dhenwood@xxxxxxxxx (Doug Henwood)]

Not to re-open old wounds - oh, ok, I love re-opening old wounds, almost as
much as I love opening fresh ones - but here's a tidbit from another list
on how advertising influences editorial content, something certain PKTers
assured us was impossible.

Doug

--

Doug Henwood
[dhenwood@xxxxxxxxx]
Left Business Observer
250 W 85 St
New York NY 10024-3217
USA
+1-212-874-4020 voice
+1-212-874-3137 fax


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>Date: Wed, 5 Apr 1995 09:48:50 -0400
>Reply-To: roundtable@xxxxxxx
>Originator: roundtable@xxxxxxx
>Sender: roundtable@xxxxxxx
>Precedence: bulk
>From: crawford@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Rick Crawford)
>Subject: Re: Content is the cargo of truth
>X-Comment: Telecommunications Policy Roundtable Forum
>
>
>   > There is no
>   > "propaganda system" in the world of text.
>
>A brief reality check is in order.  Editor & Publisher v126, n3
>(Jan 16, 1993) reported that virtually all 150 newspaper editors in
>a 1992 Marquette Univ. study acknowledged interference by advertisers.
>93% of editors said advertisers tried to influence the content of their
>newspaper articles. 71% of editors said advertisers tried to kill
>certain stories outright. And 37% of editors were *honest enough* to
>admit that they actually had succumbed to this advertiser pressure.
>More than half (55.1%) said there was pressure from within their own
>newspaper to write or tailor news stories to please advertisers.  So
>much for "unbiased" dissemination of factual information, an essential
>basis for the efficient market hypothesis.
>
>Here's some tidbits to flesh out the dry statistics.
>
>-rick
>
>Rick Crawford
><crawford@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>------
>
>Topic 190       Advertiser Censorship
>studycommerc    media.issues     1:48 pm  Jul 23, 1992
>
>                 ALL THE NEWS THAT'S FIT TO SELL
>
>Censorship clearinghouse: In March, the Center for the Study of
>Commercialism (CSC) released the report "Dictating Content: How
>Advertising Pressure Can Corrupt A Free Press," which documents
>how the news media tailor editorial content to suit advertisers.
>To keep the spotlight on this disturbing trend, CSC will continue
>to feature new examples of advertiser influence on the media.
>
>~ Paramount Pictures pulled all advertising from Daily Variety
>after film critic Joseph McBride panned the movie "Patriot Games"
>as a "shallow" adaptation of Tom Clancy's "right-wing cartoon of
>the British-Irish political situation."  Peter Bart, Daily Variety
>editor, publicly apologized to Paramount, promising that McBride
>would never review another Paramount movie.  Bart also hinted
>that McBride's position as a critic was in question.  (NYT 6/10/92)
>
>~ Financial analyst Graef Crystal, who launched the national debate
>on executive salaries while at Fortune magazine, has been fired from
>a similar job at Financial World after advertisers complained
>that their executives were getting bad coverage.  (CJR 6/92)
>
>~ Ford and General Motors convinced Saturday Night Live producers
>to take the companies' names out of a skit that cast them in a
>negative light.  Titled "Tall Tales From the Recession," the original
>SNL scene depicted Ford and GM chairmen competing to lay off the
>most workers.  The final version used fictitious company names.
>(Entertainment Weekly 4/8/92)
>
>~ Popular computer pundit William Zachman quit his job at PC Week
>after editors demanded he write friendlier columns about Microsoft.
>The software company, one of PC Week's largest advertisers,
>had complained about a series of critical articles.
>The evening after editors tried to pressure Zachman, a Microsoft
>official called to "reeducate" him on their product.  (WP 7/7/92)
>
>~ General Motors sentenced Automobile Magazine to three months
>without advertising after editor David E. Davis delivered a
>scathing speech criticizing the motor company for closing 21
>plants and eliminating 74,000 jobs. (NYT 6/26/92)
>
>~ The Minneapolis Star-Tribune lost nearly all advertising from
>Northwest Airlines after the newspaper published an advertisement,
>paid for by a grassroots organization, that blasted Northwest's
>campaign to win state financing in exchange for building maintenance
>hubs in Minnesota.  Northwest also criticized the Star-Tribune for
>covering the debate in regular news stories, even though an editorial
>supported the airline's position.  (MST 3/28/92)
>
>KNOW OF NEW EXAMPLES OF ADVERTISER-CENSORSHIP?
>Call (202) 797-7080, E-mail, or write to:
>
>                   Center for the Study for Commercialism
>                   1875 Connecticut Ave, NW, Suite 300,
>                   Washington, DC 20009
>
>[ P.S. -- So many news outlets refused even to acknowledge the existence
>          of the Center's report, "Dictating Content", that the report's
>          story of advertiser censorship was -- itself -- voted one of
>          the  "Top Ten Censored Stories of 1992"  by  Project Censored! ]
>                ================================
>

Doug

--

Doug Henwood
[dhenwood@xxxxxxxxx]
Left Business Observer
250 W 85 St
New York NY 10024-3217
USA
+1-212-874-4020 voice
+1-212-874-3137 fax