The Media
Battered by the ardent defenders of competitive sports, I am glad to have the support of the Wall Street Journal, although it affects the integrity of the press, one of my major concerns:
The widespread reaction among journalists to a recent editorial misstep at the Los Angeles Times has been "surprise and horror." The problem arose when the L.A. Times' magazine devoted a full issue last month to the new Staples Center sports arena without disclosing that the newspaper and the arena owners had agreed to split the profits on $2-million in advertising revenue generated by the issue. Although the news staff had no knowledge of the arrangement, the mere appearance of compromised objectivity has launched a tidal wave of disapproval in newsrooms across the country. "Ultimately, the only value of any newspaper lies in its trustworthiness," says Dean Mills, dean of the Missouri School of Journalism. "If you can't trust the news content of a newspaper, then the paper literally has almost no value." The increased competition among news organizations and pressure on newspapers to forge tighter links with their communities have served to push the editorial and business sides of the newspaper closer together, says Mills. On top of it all is the overwhelming influence of the Internet, which has made it increasingly difficult to distinguish between news and ad copy. Indeed, a survey conducted last year by the American Society of Newspaper Editors indicated that 50% of readers believe that newspaper advertisers exercised some influence over editorial decisions. (Wall Street Journal 5 Nov 99) www.wsj.com
Ronald Hilton - 11/10/99
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