One of the first things I learned when I was a media buyer was what *not* to ask the salespeople from publications about - editorial details. Sure, there’s an editorial calendar that is available to the public, but nothing too specific in order to maintain some integrity. Publications have two sides to their business - advertising and editorial - and the two shall truly only meet when the pages are bound together (or at least folded). That’s why my curiosity was piqued this week after RatherBiased.com pointed out that CBS had a link on its website that pointed to an Amazon Associates link for President Clinton’s new book, “My Life.”
This afternoon, RatherBiased.com confirmed the relationship between CBS and Amazon.com, and provides further coverage [including a quote from yours truly] of the journalistic integrity that may have been breached in this case. The main question, in my mind, is whether or not “60 Minutes” will continue to be viewed as a “news” program or not. Many other shows on competing networks have caught flack for seeming like advertorial in the past, such as NBC’s “Dateline” or ABC’s “20/20″ - but “60 Minutes” has tried to stay on the other side of that fence. That time may be no longer.
2 responses so far ↓
1 Alice Marshall // Jun 23, 2004 at 7:38 pm
Oh for heaven’s sake, Clinton is big news. It is not like Diane Sawyer interviewing the Pets.com sock puppet after Disney bought Pets.com.
2 Tom // Jun 23, 2004 at 7:46 pm
Correct - Clinton is big news - but that doesn’t mean that having an “interview” and then trying to make money off of the book you were talking about on the show is a smart idea, as far as integrity goes.