Is Greed Good for Journalism

Posted: Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Is nothing sacred anymore?  Apparently not when it comes to newspapers whose revenue is sinking faster than the Titanic.  Last Friday, the Los Angeles Times threw the editorial code of ethics out the window by selling its front page to the highest bidder.  Instead of seeing Pulitzer-worthy stories about healthcare reform or the war overseas, it was Johnny Depp’s mug as the Mad Hatter in Alice and Wonderland that graced the top fold. Not only that, but it was made to look like a real front page with actual archived LA Times articles. 

And this is not the first time that the LA Times has sold out.  Last year, NBC tried to trick readers into thinking they were reading an actual article about the forgettable new drama (at the time) Southland.  

Newspapers need money to survive.  I get it.  Disney plucked down a reported $700,000 for their groundbreaking ad.  It’s hard for any organization to turn down that chunk of change.  But just because publishers are treading water should not be an excuse to put it’s prime piece of real estate on the auction block and forgo the rules of journalism.  I can only imagine the uproar from the veteran journalists in the newsroom when they found out about this.  Like MTV dropping “music television” from its name, how long before we drop the “news” from newspaper?  Maybe I’m naive, but I still open the newspaper for real journalism.  A few ads here and there are fine, but when they legitimately start confusing readers is where I draw the line of what is acceptable.