Blurring the Lines of Journalism and Advertising

Elijah Sweet
es008215@ohio.edu

Today, many media outlets are blurring the lines between journalism and advertising. Media partner with companies and then produce stories that promote a new product or service. This is an example of "native advertising."

The more media outlets produce these stories the more difficult it is for the public to tell the difference between journalism and advertising.  The relationship between Samsung and The New York Times is a good example of how native journalism is shaped today.

In the article by Media Shift that we read for class, Ava Sirrah explains that The Times creates video content using Samsung Virtual Reality and posts it on the Times' 360 Videos page. The New York Times and Samsung never came out publicly to tell people the 360 video campaign was a sponsorship or advertisement. The more news outlets create content promoting other companies, the more difficult it is going to be for people to know what is real journalism and what is advertising.

On Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, a news satire show on HBO, Oliver explains how and why news outlets are feeding the public advertisements.He explains that many media outlets make the majority of their money from sponsored news content.

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver


According to Native Advertising Institute, Buzzfeed relies heavily on native journalism for revenue. Buzzfeed posts many articles on its website that are sponsored by different companies. This is an issue because the more we see news outlets help promote companies,  the less the public knows what is real news and what is propaganda.

Photo by: SEMRush Blog

As long as people are not willing to pay for news content, native advertising in journalism will continue to grow because of how big of how much money news companies can make from it. But, can people actually tell the difference between sponsored content and independent journalism?

According to a study by IAB in 2014, 41% people are not aware when news content is being sponsored. That number should concern news outlets. Reporters should strive to be honest and transparent with its audience and not hide advertisements to make them look like actual new stories.

Native advertising in journalism has its place in news. It has certain benefits including bringing in revenue for both the media outlet and the company, and it also gives the public a chance to learn new information that might benefit them. But it should be evident to the reader when an article is being sponsored.

However, a journalist's goal should never be to deceive their audience. As native journalism continues to grow, reporter's need to find ways to make it apparent that they are promoting an advertisement.

Also, news outlets cannot and should not rely completely on native advertising for their news content. A journalist's duty is to try to be as independent as possible. Journalism should first and foremost be about telling the truth and not pushing propaganda.

Additionally, people should be made aware that native advertising does exist and they should always be checking to see if what they are reading, listening to, or watching is independent of promotions. It is important to make sure that the public can see through the blurred lines.