How to decipher between News and Advertisements?

 Kate Anderson

Ka668316@ohio.edu

Extra Blog Post

Courtesy of Make My Newspaper.

Fewer and fewer people trust the media. 60% of people have little to no confidence in journalists, according to a Pew Research Center study. The fall in a trust may be due to the lack of clear lines between trustworthy journalism and advertisements disguised as news articles. The rise in social media and more platforms to consume information may also cause a lack of trust. 

A Los Angeles Times article quotes Ira Kalb, an assistant professor of Marketing at U.S.C.'s Marshall School of Business, about the issue of deciphering between true media and advertisements. 

"It's a big problem, getting worse," Kalb said. "Consumers are having a harder time knowing which media they can trust."

Many professors and researchers believe the mistrust comes from the lack of distinction between advertisements and regular content on internet sites. The Los Angeles Article explains that ads would be printed in a different font in print newspapers so the reader could openly see the advertisement. On platforms like Facebook and Twitter, advertisements have tiny labels that may be hard for readers to recognize. 

The misrepresentation is misleading and makes it hard to decipher the information. That also leads to the question of whether or not these misleading ads are ethical or not. The Los Angeles Article also quotes Jeff Chester, the Center for Digital Democracy executive director, who said it is harder and harder to read information.

"We are going back to what we had in the 1950s, with advertisers in charge of content," Chester said. "There's going to be less and less information from reliable sources and more from sources that just want us to buy something." 

The leading issue with this again is the lack of disclosure with advertisements. The disclosure of the information is very upfront. According to the Federal Trade Commission, disclosures are required to prevent an advertisement from being deceptive, unfair, or otherwise violative of a Commission rule, must be presented "clearly and conspicuously.

It is hard to understand how advertisements can be so hidden with these guidelines. However, some tips can help spot these hidden advertisements. Mount Allison University recommends using the C.R.A.A.P. test (currency, relevance, authority, accuracy, purpose) and the P.R.O.V.E.N. test (Purpose, Relevance, Objectivity, Verifiability, Expertise, Newness), or the Process of Establishing Integrity Checklist. The tests layout the best way to avoid being misled by hidden advertisements or information in media.