mb163416@ohio.edu
The world of online journalism is reliant on advertisements and sponsorship, that is assured. However, the integrity of journalistic stories is in peril due to the increasing use of "native advertising," stories or ads that are almost indistinguishable from news stories. Readers need to be wary of where the content they read comes from.
According to ShareThrough, "native advertising is a form of paid media where the ad experience follows the natural form and function of the user experience in which it is placed." Because of the convincing format of these ads, readers may not be able to recognize that what they are reading is actually paid advertising or sponsored content. This lack of transparency goes against what good journalism stands for.
Journalism exists to inform the public about important and newsworthy information. When ads are presented in a way that seems like a news narrative, rather than a push to buy a product, it is a misuse of the trust that readers put in newsroom employees.
According to Word Stream, there are good and bad examples of native advertising. Good examples are ones that have content that users would still find interesting, and fit with the magazine or paper's overall content scene. For example, Vanity Fair teamed with Hennessy to create a written and video piece that fit the brand image they had already created for themselves. The piece is still genuinely interesting to their users, and has a distinguishable "SPONSOR CONTENT" above the title.
Not everyone can display native advertising at this standard. It is imperative that guidelines are set to avoid the blurring of the line between real news stories and paid content. The agenda behind sponsor content needs to be clear to readers from the beginning so that they can have all of the facts to make an educated decision about how to approach the article. When consumers look at an ad that they KNOW is an ad, they have a veil of skepticism. This skepticism isn't present when users don't know they're trying to be sold a promise, so they are more able to be duped.
While online journalism is reliant on paid advertisements and sponsorship, it is also important to remember that the highest quality online media needs to hold is integrity.
No comments:
Post a Comment