Fabi
20th May 2002, 22:37
just another example of how corrupt the whole ((corporate) news) system really is....
"The dirty little secret is we are beholden to advertising," an Arlington Star-Telegram reporter told the Fort Worth Weekly (7/19/01). The Texas daily had just declined to publish a story by reporter Tanya Eiserer about Dillard’s department store. Dillard’s, a major Star-Telegram advertiser, had been involved in lawsuits charging store security guards with excessive force and racial profiling; a Dillard’s guard had killed a man in Arlington in June 1999, and there had been other deaths in Texas and Tennessee.
But Dillard’s had shown it was quick to retaliate against negative coverage, pulling ads from CBS after 60 Minutes ran a segment in March 2000. Star-Telegram reporters who spoke to Fort Worth Weekly reporter Jeff Prince had little doubt that that was what was on editors’ minds when the story, described by those who read it as comprehensive and fair, was killed. They also described an over-rigorous editing process, in which Eiserer was forbidden to focus on Dillard’s and pushed to make the piece "an overall story about shoplifting." Said one outraged Star-Telegram reporter (all those who spoke with the Weekly did so on condition of anonymity): "Since when is it our job to protect advertisers? When you have to start worrying if your stories are conflicting with the ad department, you’re fucked."
and another example, boys and girls:
New York’s Daily News learned the cost of upsetting advertisers: The paper lost hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of ads from supermarkets, and some stores stopped selling the paper, after it ran a hard-hitting investigative series about safety and sanitary concerns at New York city groceries (5/3/01-5/6/01).
Although a Daily News spokesperson declared publicly that "we stand by the story" (New York Times, 6/14/01), the paper obviously learned its lesson. In June, the Daily News ran a highly unusual four-page advertorial, written by a freelancer at the paper’s expense, effusively extolling the virtues of the supermarket industry. The same spokesperson explained that the supplement was "part of a package of advertorial, advertising and value-added marketing that we hope will bring supermarkets back into the newspaper." Sample copy: "When the block associations stage their annual parties on 138th Street and 139th Street, they know they can count on the neighborhood Met Food and C-Town Supermarkets for juice, soda and buns." While alarming critics, the overture also failed to sway all of its intended audience: Declared one unmollified supermarket exec: "I’ll go back if they fire the reporter and his editor."
dont you think it is ridiculous, how the media is totally in the hands of lobbies/advertising/government ?
no, not totally, but you know what i mean.... the paragraphs are excerpts from a report by fair.org, dedicated to journalists, who work 'without fear or favor'....
that's 'nough for now....
"The dirty little secret is we are beholden to advertising," an Arlington Star-Telegram reporter told the Fort Worth Weekly (7/19/01). The Texas daily had just declined to publish a story by reporter Tanya Eiserer about Dillard’s department store. Dillard’s, a major Star-Telegram advertiser, had been involved in lawsuits charging store security guards with excessive force and racial profiling; a Dillard’s guard had killed a man in Arlington in June 1999, and there had been other deaths in Texas and Tennessee.
But Dillard’s had shown it was quick to retaliate against negative coverage, pulling ads from CBS after 60 Minutes ran a segment in March 2000. Star-Telegram reporters who spoke to Fort Worth Weekly reporter Jeff Prince had little doubt that that was what was on editors’ minds when the story, described by those who read it as comprehensive and fair, was killed. They also described an over-rigorous editing process, in which Eiserer was forbidden to focus on Dillard’s and pushed to make the piece "an overall story about shoplifting." Said one outraged Star-Telegram reporter (all those who spoke with the Weekly did so on condition of anonymity): "Since when is it our job to protect advertisers? When you have to start worrying if your stories are conflicting with the ad department, you’re fucked."
and another example, boys and girls:
New York’s Daily News learned the cost of upsetting advertisers: The paper lost hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of ads from supermarkets, and some stores stopped selling the paper, after it ran a hard-hitting investigative series about safety and sanitary concerns at New York city groceries (5/3/01-5/6/01).
Although a Daily News spokesperson declared publicly that "we stand by the story" (New York Times, 6/14/01), the paper obviously learned its lesson. In June, the Daily News ran a highly unusual four-page advertorial, written by a freelancer at the paper’s expense, effusively extolling the virtues of the supermarket industry. The same spokesperson explained that the supplement was "part of a package of advertorial, advertising and value-added marketing that we hope will bring supermarkets back into the newspaper." Sample copy: "When the block associations stage their annual parties on 138th Street and 139th Street, they know they can count on the neighborhood Met Food and C-Town Supermarkets for juice, soda and buns." While alarming critics, the overture also failed to sway all of its intended audience: Declared one unmollified supermarket exec: "I’ll go back if they fire the reporter and his editor."
dont you think it is ridiculous, how the media is totally in the hands of lobbies/advertising/government ?
no, not totally, but you know what i mean.... the paragraphs are excerpts from a report by fair.org, dedicated to journalists, who work 'without fear or favor'....
that's 'nough for now....