Since being established in September 1998, the master search engine Google is scheduled to exceed the entire newspaper industry in advertising revenue in just a few more years. So, it is no wonder news organisations, private and public, such as the ABC are turning to new methods such as collaborative content to sell advertisements.

Traditional forms of media, such as print are turning to native advertising as a necessity, desperate to raise their sales. Even The Wall Street Journal have implemented native advertising as a way to supplement their revenue. However, in a bid to stay aligned with consumer ethics, the journal has created the term “sponsor generated content” to ensure differentiation between editorial content and advertisements. These days, however, there is a fine line between what is editorial versus what is advertorial content. This move has seen a push for regulatory bodies and a change in editorial standards.

We have definitely seen a move from journalism in a traditional and unpaid sense, to a growing and operational business in itself. Therefore, the line separating journalism and advertising is slowly blurring into one whether we like it or not.

This confuses news consumers, as journalism has always been promoted as honest reportage, rather than deliberate sponsor-paid news. Many argue that should newspapers and online media forms take on advertorial content, they should explicitly label it as advertising to avoid manipulating their consumers.

People come to newspapers for news, not advertising under the guise of news. However, this raises another question: Is news every unprecedented or free from publicity stunts?

Bob Garfield, a cohost of “On the Media”, and past advertising analyst for ABC News, contends that the real issue around native advertising is the potential deception it can cause when it goes undetected by its audience members. With each business deal publishers make with advertising companies, comes the exploitation of the consumer public’s trust.

References:

Steigrad, A 2013, ‘Native Advertising: The Pros and Cons’, Academic OneFile, December, Edition 7, pp. 1 -3.

Del Rey, J 2012, ‘Native advertising: media savior or just the new custom campaign?’, Advertising Age, October, Volume 83, Issue 39, pp. 1 – 2.

Krumsvik, A 2012, ‘Why old media will be funding journalism in the future’, Journalism Studies, March, pp. 729 – 739.

Sebastian, M 2014, ‘Another one falls’, Advertising Age, Volume 85, Issue 5, March, pp. 1 – 3.