L.A.Times runs controversial ad on cover

[brooklynite]

from Crain's New York Business:

(AP) - The Los Angeles Times has taken the unusual step of running an advertisement that resembles a news story on its front page.

The ad for the new NBC program Southland runs the width of one column in the bottom half of Thursday's front page. It is labeled as an advertisement and has the NBC logo at the top, but occupies space previously used for news.

View the full cover

The text is adjacent to a banner ad for the TV show at the bottom of the page.

Calls seeking comment from the Times and NBC Universal were not immediately returned.

Hard as the ecnomy has been on the news media, its a sad day when they're willing to completely blur the line between news and marketing.

[glowing]

1. It says advertisement, unless people who read stopped learning how to.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. I saw that ad...

And I certainly recognized it as advertising.

That being said, I also found it offensive.

It's an encroachment that should not be happening.

[MineralMan]

6. Oddly enough, newspapers used to have ads on the front page

all the time. Of course, that was back in the 19th century, but...

[sandnsea]

7. Do you read the entertainment section?

Aren't articles like that in there all the time? Right next to the ad? Only the article isn't labeled as advertising. That's what has been offensive.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

11. Yes, I do read the entertainment section...

And they do not place ads on the front page. Inside, yes, of course. It seems to me that those articles are labeled as advertising; it's in small print up at the top.

[sandnsea]

14. Precisely. They just place the story

And pretend it's news. When it's advertising disguised as news. Now they're being honest. I say they should have to put the advertising budget of the corporate advertiser, right in that corporation's "news" article. That would be an honest media.

[rox63]

3. The big NBC logo and the "advertisement" label should be plenty of warning to readers n/t

[RockaFowler]

4. I don't see anything wrong with it

But I work for a NBC station and the more press we can get for our shows - the better.

[sandnsea]

5. They're finally defining that line

That article would have been printed previously, and the ad placed elsewhere. They're finally being honest about why some things get in the paper and others don't. This is a good thing.

[HubertHeaver]

8. The demarcation is prominent enough.

The logo and the word 'advertisement' at the top of the column coupled with the dark black line along the column and around the obvious advertisement at the bottom plainly separates it from the news columns on the page.

I do hope NBC paid dearly for that placement.

[KansDem]

9. What?!? Why not above the fold?!!

In due time...

[ThomWV]

10. The reason I quit buying papers was they quit printing news - here's another example.

[JonLP24]

12. I don't understand what or why it is offensive?

Sorry for not being able to figure it out.

[Toucano]

13. This worries me less than the big story about climate change in Australia.

Damn!

Still, the NBC think is stupid. I guess if they have to do it, they did about as well as they could delineating it from the rest of the news.