There Needs to be Transparency in Advertising

There are several ethical values journalists must follow.  One of those values is to be transparent.  One of the issues in journalism is being transparent when it comes to advertising.  Advertising can be important to publications. I feel that it is important for journalists to confirm whether one of their articles is being sponsored. They should mention it somewhere in their article, if possible. Also, I think it should be stated somewhere on the page.

The PRSA website states disclosure as one of the guidelines journalists should follow. When someone promotes branded content, they need to clearly label it as being branded.  Journalists should not try to sell marketing content as editorial.  The website also states that online media outlets should allow for reader comments. It is important for the media outlets to receive feedback and not delete the negative comments.

The audience needs to know if an article they are reading is an advertisement or not. If the audience doesn't know, the journalist could potentially lose trust and may never get it back!

In an article on the website Adweek, there are four ways that agencies can be more transparent in their advertising.  Firstly, agencies should establish that operating revenues result from remuneration arrangements with clients.  This means that clients should ask their media agency partners to outline in writing their policies for handling things such as rebates or discounts.

Secondly, agencies should transfer discounts negotiated on the clients' behalf.  When the clients start to actually see that their agencies are crediting them, they will believe that there is more transparency.

The third thing the article mentioned is for the two sides to avoid potentially complicating financial relationships.  Following this will send a message, both internally and externally, that profiting in any way from a client's business is not part of the culture.

The last point the article stated is for there to be transparency in compliance. The article stated that it is important for us to know that transparency is not synonymous with ethics or morality.  Transparency is more of way of conducting business and managing operations that are often a reflection of the company's values.

If a company adopts policies that help guide transparency, it can potentially attract people and clients who want to be associated with companies that have a strong structure of beliefs. It also gives the company an advantage.       

Journalists need to be transparent when they use advertising in their work. Sometimes those advertisements can be a reflection of them. If a journalist decides to advertise a product or company that is not trustworthy, it will have a negative effect on the journalist. It is important for the journalist to use advertising the right way so it will not affect his or her credibility.

(Photo from OwnerIQ.com)  

Some people view journalism and advertising together to be a bad thing. Sometimes, having the two together can be a good thing! I feel that journalists can potentially benefit from advertisements and advertisers can benefit from the journalists. If journalists can be transparent and truthful, there will likely be a good relationship between the media outlet and the client it is advertising.