In our most recent comms 239 class, we discussed advertising in journalism and some of the repercussions of that. While we were discussing and listening to the presentation, I specifically recalled an article that was written by Jeffrey Maciejewski about Native Journalism, and whether or not it was just a fancier way of advertising. http://creightoninfoethics.wordpress.com/2013/02/23/is-native-advertising-deceptive-journalism/
Several articles point to this as well, that websites such as Buzzfeed, have been allowing third party companies, to write or create articles about a specific topic, but in the end it just winds up being an advertisement for their company/product/promotion. World of Warcraft, a popular online roleplaying game, had recently released a series of “listicles” on Buzzfeed under the guise of an interesting article about things you can do with your buddies, but in the end it wound up being a plug for their new World of Warcraft expansion.
The debate in question is where is the line between advertisements, and journalism?https://knightcenter.utexas.edu/blog/00-13029-line-between-journalism-and-ads-popular-blogger-website-editor-debate-ethics-sponsored
One of the major points presented is that native journalism isn’t a problem because there are disclaimers telling you that this particular article is from an advertiser, or that it is paid content. However, with bigger new sources falling into the trap of native journalism, such as the Atlantic allowing a scientology ad to be posted, under the guise of journalism, people are beginning to have blurred distinctions about what is an advertisement, and what is actually journalism.
#comms239
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