Thursday, January 05, 2006

Oops!

Sharp-eyed observers may have noticed an interesting juxtaposition on the Boston Globe's op-ed page today. There right next to a column by Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation president Michael Widmer arguing against the payroll tax for employers who don't provide health insurance is an ad by Massachusetts Businesses for Real Healthcare Reform arguing against that payroll tax.

Needless to say, the idea of the message in an op-ed being reinforced by the same paid message alongside it is embarassing and awkward -- and sure to spawn conspiracy theories. But, says Globe publisher Richard Gilman, it's sheer unlucky coincidence.

"There's always the possibility that coincidences occur and there's journalistic content on the op-ed page and an ad that are on the same topic," he says. "I've always believed that the chances of it occurring are slim and none. As it turns out, none is not the answer."

Asked if the Globe would change policy to avoid such an occurrence in the future, Gilman responded that the journalists who edit and work on the opinon pages "explicitly don't want to know the content of ads." They may want to now.

1/5/2006 3:22:07 PM by Mark Jurkowitz | Comments [1] |

Sunday, January 08, 2006 10:19:38 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

Strikes me that it's less that the opinion page journalists should know what the ads are and more that the folks who sell and place the ads should be more aware of what the opinion pieces are.

I agree that it's probably a bad thing for the opinion writers to know anything about the ads - it unavoidably creates a perception of a conflict of interest. Assuming this is the first time this problem has occured, then one slipup in X dozen years is a pretty good track record of that policy of journalistic independence. If something must be done, and I think it must, then let's not do anything to compromise that independence.

Aaron Read

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