THE BATTLE OF THE ADVERTORIALS
The Battel of the Advertorials The Danger In Opinion Ads By Norbert Muhlen IN the put the newspaper reader, who wanted to know' ail about a strike studied the news, the editorials, and the...
...The many well-camouSaged front committees of the Communists, pressure groups and reform associations of all sorts, newspaper publishers, railroad companies, industrial concerns, ruggedly individualistic manufacturers and their social-minded children all bought advertising space to win ¦Jhs readers for their views on national, foreign, labor and economic policies...
...It can be safely assumed that the average reader's mind and memory do not distinguish too sharply and consciously between the facts and opinions he reads in the editorial section, and those in the advertising section...
...Advertorial replies from non-Zionist groups were relatively rare...
...It's different now...
...one executive said...
...The income from commercial advertising protected the publishers from becoming venal or controlled, since it made them independent from subsidies of interested groups...
...Slippery when read...
...Peace against the German people...
...Advertisers and minority groups who did not succeed in intruding into the editorial domain through the backdoor can now—by means *f the advertorials— easily, legally and unlnhibitedly walk in through the front door...
...The dividing line between editorial and advertising columns served indeed as a basis for freedom of the press...
...Safeguards of Free Opinion The suspicion that advertisers influe nee the editorial contents of the press was mostly unfounded, although some tried hard and often...
...Formerly editor of The Kadin Audience, Muhlen hss contributed to msny publlrstions on important aiasa-medla problems...
...Where, nevertheless, controversial issues could not be avoided, such as in Ihe comments of radio news analysts, networks and stations pledged to !>a!aiice divergent opinions so that both sules would be presented...
...And all this "information" is in the paper's advertisements...
...Or, a so-called "Society for the Prevention of World War 111" propagated in its advertorials a punitive...
...An increasing volume of advertorials *>¦ be expected...
...under the slogan, "Petroleum Is Propressive," these advertorials are supposed to make people forget that the oil industry is a monopoly, and should be regulated more strictly...
...they only have to buy 200 lines of advertising space, and their advertorial will make the readers forget the newspaper's editorials...
...Not only oecasionalWt at special events but "periodically ¦si frequently" will a? broad advertising iTrsm expose alien economic <on••Pts...
...adversaries of this goal, who spend their funds on vitally needed relief shipments, could not reply...
...Newspaper advertising apace has no such safeguard for the **pubiie interest, convenience and necessity...
...The.total linage of their partisan facts and arguments was considerably higher than that of editorial information and comments on the ,question in the same papers, and often in strong contrast to it...
...These advertorials are sold as a sort of contraband to the reader who buys a newspaper because it sppeals to him, among other features, in its editorial standards and opinions...
...And on the same note of fairness, a radio commentator who violently attacked OPA, Fulton Lewis, Jr., had to admit to his program representatives of pro-OPA groups which he had charged with misrepresentations...
...Another type of advertorials was published by purely commercial advertisers who used them as attention-getters and sales vehicles, in a way somewhat similar to sponsored radio news programs...
...In both eases, and in many other controversies, radio commentators were forced to "invite" their adversaries to correct or answer their own statements...
...Therefore, the freedom of stating facts and opinions through newspaper advertising must be upheld, but checks and balances should be introduced to protect the public from monopoly and deceit...
...These rules of fairness are certainly not followed by every newspaper editor and publisher, or by every radio commentator...
...Special interests at work...
...While the...
...Another time, a dozen Spaniards "living temporarily in this Country" bought a newspaper page lo tell "The Facts About Franco Spain" in a way which without tact or fact falsified history in favor of this dictator and his regime...
...After his perusal of editorial, news and comments, he haa to study a full-sise dissertation under the bannerline, "The Truth About The Strike," another essay, entitled, "What Every Citizen Must Know About the Strike," and finally a column on the strike, published "as a public service" by the Soap and Sofa Stores, Inc...
...Comments Without Corrections ThE battle of the advertorials presents the old problem of freedom versus regulation in a new context...
...Not so in the advertorials...
...When, for instance, LaGuardia in his spectacular career as a radio commentator violently defended OPA, he had to give a fraction of his broadcast time to spokesmen of anti-OPA groups which he had charged with a conspiracy against the people...
...Then ho could pass to the fannies, the sports, and the advertisement* of sofa, soap and salami sales...
...for instance, a pooilyfinanced crusade, or a protest not accepted by other media, would lost...
...The advertisements of the daily press are crammed with editorial matter...
...But for advertorials, even the possibility of corrections or answers in the editorial outlets is missing...
...A dangerous monopoly of well-financed groups may develop from the complete freedom to advertise opinions...
...On top and bottom of every editorial should be printed in big type (a warning similarly expressed by radio stations and sponsors of highly controversial commentators:) "This la a paid advertisement...
...On tho other band, this freedom is undoubtedly part ol the basic freedoms- of opinion, expression and competition...
...Public questions are discussed in a provocative and interesting light, and sometimes from a very controversial viewpoint...
...True, an agate line on top and bottom of the advertorial may meekly warn him: "Advertisement...
...It is about as true as the democratic axiom that everybody is allowed to sleep in a flophouse (since in New York, in contrast to Paris, nobody is allowed to sleep under bridges...
...Battles on Bought Space TrlKRK is hardly a controversial issue without at least one of its sides being sold to the public in advertised editorials, —"advertorials" in short...
...No trespassing by editorial judgement...
...In their own as well as In the public interest, newspapers should encounter new developments with new rules and stsndards...
...They don't havo to bribe an editor who writes 20 lines on the subject close to their heart and interest...
...Justice Holmes explained the test of truth as "the power of the thought to get itself accepted in the competition of the market...
...and that, therefore, it is beneath the editorial dignity to discuss advertising contents editorially, or to contradict directly what an advertiser says...
...ADVEITORIAL ANALTST NO It II FjI(T Ml HI.FN is the well-known sathority on radio and public opinion techniques...
...It is true that space can be bought in the same newspaper to answer an adveitorial, to advertise one's corrections, different information, opposite views...
...peace conference considered Balkan problems, a full-size advertisement «by agr alleged Committee of Albenian-Americans was published in the metropolitan press...
...In » famous opinion more than a half century ago, Mr...
...If any licensee shall permit any person who is a legally qualified candidate for any public office to use a broadcasting station," the Communications Art of 1984 states in its section 315, "he shall afford equal opportunities to all other such candidates for that office in the use of such broadcasting station...
...Before, during and after the war, people •aid that radio did a better job, soemtd less biased, showed more fairness...
...The Battel of the Advertorials The Danger In Opinion Ads By Norbert Muhlen IN the put the newspaper reader, who wanted to know' ail about a strike studied the news, the editorials, and the pro-and-eon letters to the editor on the subject...
...Most outstanding example is a weekly column by Fiorello H. LaGuardia, entitled, "Under The Hat," paid for and published by a New York retail organization...
...Hs will be particularly remembered by Sew Lender readers far his probing, informative fall-length profiles of Johanaos Steel snd LUs Sergio, and the recent World KvenU settle* ho wrote: "Submission to Moscow," The present article on the political implications ot "advertorials" la otto af a series an related subjects (hat Norbert Muhlen has written far Me New lender...
...The self-regulating code of the National Association of Broadcasters) ruled that radio time "for the presentation of controversial issues shall not be sold" since the limited availabilities would "inevitably gravitate almost wholly into the hands of those with the greater means to buy it...
...A similar idea of fairness exists in the editorial sections of the press, with its self-professed duty of editorial verification and public-mindedness...
...In other areas of mass communications—in the editorial sections of daily newspapers, or in the presentation of tnews, opinion and comment on the radio, the other side, too, is given the right and the opportunity to express itself...
...line between editorial and 'advertising contents of the press is being blurred...
...Ths American Petroleum Institute, i|p»oe association of the oil industry, "•Mod a few weeks ago to raise $1,000,000 £"t Its members to be spent in 1947 "a public Information program," intag s national advertising campaign...
...First, the other side in a controversy should be given the opportunity which the free competition of thought demands, and which radio stations in general, as well as newspapers in their editorial sections are already offering...
...its opportunity of making itself beard by the general public...
...One of the many reasons for this vote may lm the Impression given by tit* advertorials...
...In the special rase of electioneering over the air, wheres radio time can !>e bought for special interests, the Federal Communications Commission watches over impartial distribution...
...But - even if he does not overlook this little line altogether— he seldom realizes that it is like a roadside sign: "Editorial standards, keep out...
...Second, the lack of editoriaf"responsibility should be expressed clearly and conspicuously...
...If it were severely curtailed or abolished, it would do damage to both sides...
...To re.-itore free competition in the market of ideas as I bey present themselves through newspaper advertising, to protect the opinion consuming masses from monopoly and deceit, the introduction of two <elf regulatory measures might be considered...
...it broadcast "The Truth About Albania" in a one-sided distortion favorable to Soviet-satellite policies...
...The clear dividing...
...Only those who have the necessary cash to buy the necessary space are able to collect or oppose an advertorial...
...During the Isst year, for instance, a barrage of propaganda concerning Palestine, immigration policies, and Britain was tired by Zionist groups...
...Ideas, opinions and programs have branched out from the editorial to the advertising section where space-buying salesmen of social Systems and political propaganda present them to the readers...
...According to the 1940 census, there are fewer than 5,000 Albanians in this country...
...At prhctlcally every ¦sslnessmen's convention or Public Relapse experts' meeting in 1946, it was •Wvently proposed snd resolved that' "we must sell now the system of free fMerprise to the people as effectively as **• sell our goods...
...fn practically svery poeti* opinion poll in which people war* asked their preferences for radio or newspapers, radio came first in popular appreciation...
...adversaries have a chance to correct erroneous statements, or present divergent views...
...To every group which can show (possibly to an impartial and non-government arbitration body) that facts or opinions have been misrepresented in an advertorial, space should be given gratis for a reply...
...The press still sticks to its principle—which was light before the advertorial age — that thcie is a clear dividing line between the editorial and the advertising sections...
...The facta and views expressed therein have not been verified by this newspaper...
Vol. 30 • February 1947 • No. 5
