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| No missing this ad. It muscles the homepage content out of the way. |
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| After the huge banner contracts, you can see a second political ad. The positioning of this one bothers me less, but the fact it's there is still open for scrutiny. |
I'm really not sure how I feel about this. There's a small part of me that understands that times are changing. If newspapers can put ads on the once-sacred front page of their print editions, why should a political ad on the homepage of a news site be any different?
As I said, though, that's a small part of me. Mostly I just thought it grotesque, and several days removed I still feel nauseous about the idea. I glanced at a few other local media outlets that have relevancy for me (the Times Union of Albany, the Ithaca Journal and the Press & Sun Bulletin of Binghamton), and the only other place I saw a political advertisement was on the IJ homepage (sorry, no picture). I noticed it wasn't for a specific candidate, though, and seemed to be paid for by a particular party or political affiliation.
Look, I've long argued that total objectivity in the media is a myth (especially in the fractured and niche information ecosystem of this day and age), but what sort of message does a giant political ad send readers of a news site when the smiling mug of a candidate greets them (and pushes the real content they're looking for downward for 10 seconds) as soon as they navigate to the homepage? Not a good one. Now combine the fact that this particular candidate was endorsed by the newspaper. Can you see why I think this sort of action inadvertently opens a door and invites questions about the credibility and objectivity of a media outlet?
I should note that I'm speaking broadly, and only citing The Saratogian because that's the example I have. My hunch is that plenty of other papers across the country did this too.
This isn't the same argument as to whether or not newspapers should make political endorsements -- a valid discussion to have, but one that is far more nuanced. Big, obtrusive ads on a homepage? At best, it's tacky; at worst, it cripples the integrity of the brand image.
I'd love for you to answer the question I pose in the title of this post and let me know if I'm off base in my thinking.
3 comments:
Steve,
Whether or not there is objectivity in the newsroom is very much up for debate. However, it's beyond question that there is no objectivity in the ad department where the motto is "any revenue is good!"
That sad, as much as I have some disdain for meddling ad reps, I don't see a problem with political ads on news websites -- politicians have advertised in print for decades, if not longer, and TV stations carry political spots during their news broadcasts -- let the websites have their piece of the pie!
Assuming the newspaper is doing its job and offering balanced (not objective) coverage of the politics in play, the reader should will be educated to know what is an ad and what is editorial content.
Andrew: As always you present a well-reasoned and articulated response. I don't disagree with you, but some thoughts, if I may:
What bothers me most about the ad in question is its obtrusiveness. If this ad were for anything else -- a product, a service, an event, whatever -- and behaved the same way, two things WOULD have happened and one thing WOULDN'T have:
1) I'd have sworn under my breath at how annoying it was as I tried to access the content I was looking for (actually, I did swear under my breath)
2) I'd have proceeded to ignore the ad and have no idea what it was for, much as I do with virtually all other online ads
3) I wouldn't have written a blog post about it (unless it didn't go away, like the ad in my previous post)
I'll concede here (and as I sort of did in the caption under the second photo above) that the smaller, unobtrusive ad in the right rail didn't bother me. I think placement of a political ad in a location like that is warranted. But the expanding, full-in-your face banner is just too much.
If comparisons to print are still relevant and/or valid, the equivalent would be placement of a giant print ad (or one of those adhesive ads that are popular at other papers) that takes up most of the space above the fold. Or perhaps a spadea ("half-wrap" as I like to call them).
As a Saratogian reader....
"Do political ads belong on news websites?"
NO ! How did I miss this huge, blatant intrusion on the webpage ??
Must have been that "no seeing eye" when it came to all the visual pollution this past political season.
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