Should Editorial Be Bought?

This week I heard about a change in policy at one of Britain's largest media houses: editorial can now only be about products and services offered by advertisers.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not naive. I'm aware that the brandishing of my marketing budgets has frequently led to coverage where there may previously not have been any. However, I am also aware that many, many businesses simply can't afford to advertise in major newspapers or glossy magazines, but who might be doing incredible, newsworthy things that deserve to be written and talked about.

So what does this all mean and why does it matter?

Well, advertising is a regulated industry. If someone presents something to you in an advert and you believe their claims to be incorrect or unfactual, you have a right to complain and a body to complain to.

Advertorials are up front about being paid for editorials and marked as such so you can decide for yourself if the information is biased or relevant.

However there is nothing, absolutely nothing, to stop a newspaper or a magazine creating a policy like the one I've mentioned above, passing off funded opinions as genuine editorial. This is the media equivalent of back room deals by governments. You, the consumer, the reader, have no idea it's gone on and the outcome is entirely outwith your control.

The net result will, in my opinion, be bad for business in the long term. Smaller, innovative companies who can't afford to advertise will not get the opportunities to be heard that they fully deserve, the customer and readers will not get the opportunity to decide for themselves.

Instead we will be spoon fed a smorgasbord of products and services that can afford to pay and, although they may not be the best, they will be the only ones we can read about.

Magazine and newspaper content will degrade, although perhaps not at first. Readership figures will move with them. And an industry, which has clearly lost its way in the dark, may have just put the final nail in its own coffin.

It may seem like good business sense to look after your paying customers (advertisers) but what about the hundreds of thousands of paying customers (readers) whose rights to unbiased editorial that they are clearly overlooking?  The people that, ultimately, matter most to the paying advertisers?

I'm afraid that while, as a marketer, I like to opportunity to negotiate coverage with publications in return for advertising pounds, as a PR I also like the fact that editorial is NOT something that can be bought.

It's the media equivalent of free speech and should always remain so.