The public feud between state Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno and Gov. Eliot Spitzer took an interesting turn this week when Bruno accused a newspaper of attempting to extort money out of him.
Bruno made the extortion allegation after one of his aides received a phone call from an advertising representative for the Times Union, which a couple of days earlier had published a report calling into question Bruno's use of state vehicles. The advertising department was apparently offering to sell Bruno political advertising space.
Bruno's version and the newspaper's version of the precise nature of the call are at odds, and unless someone has a recording of the conversation, we may never know the exact truth.
This story caught my attention because it highlights something that takes place every year at just about every daily newspaper, as well as at many news radio and television stations. The same media that report and write on politics also sell political advertising.
While it would clearly be unethical and probably illegal for any newspaper to demand advertising dollars from a politician if they want to have their side of the story told, it's not uncommon for the advertising sides of news media organizations to market political advertising opportunities.
Last election season The Citizen sold a significant amount of political advertising space to candidates looking to get their message out. With several high-profile races expected this year, there's a good chance readers will see plenty more in the fall.
But it's important for readers to understand that those advertisements are purchased, created and published completely independently of the news side of the business. Those of us who work in the newsroom don't know when those advertisements are running or what they're going to say.
That's done by design. Our job as journalists is to cover all of the candidates thoroughly and fairly, regardless of which campaign has the biggest bank account. We need to give all sides a chance to speak in campaign stories in order for readers to come away with the most complete understanding of the issue.
Another important safeguard for maintaining the integrity of the news coverage of campaigns is to be sure the reader can clearly identify what content is a paid advertisement and what content is a news article. Our advertisement department is careful to make sure political ads look like ads, not like news articles.
Now on to a bit of housekeeping:
The Citizen's Pet Idol contest, which I wrote about last month, moves to the second round in Sunday's paper. Be sure to check out which reader pets are moving on in the competition. This promotion is raising funds for Newspaper in Education, a program that provides free newspaper subscriptions to schools for their use in the classroom.
Executive editor Jeremy Boyer's columns run Saturdays in The Citizen and he can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 231 or jeremy.boyer@lee.net
Bruno's version and the newspaper's version of the precise nature of the call are at odds, and unless someone has a recording of the conversation, we may never know the exact truth.
This story caught my attention because it highlights something that takes place every year at just about every daily newspaper, as well as at many news radio and television stations. The same media that report and write on politics also sell political advertising.
While it would clearly be unethical and probably illegal for any newspaper to demand advertising dollars from a politician if they want to have their side of the story told, it's not uncommon for the advertising sides of news media organizations to market political advertising opportunities.
Last election season The Citizen sold a significant amount of political advertising space to candidates looking to get their message out. With several high-profile races expected this year, there's a good chance readers will see plenty more in the fall.
But it's important for readers to understand that those advertisements are purchased, created and published completely independently of the news side of the business. Those of us who work in the newsroom don't know when those advertisements are running or what they're going to say.
That's done by design. Our job as journalists is to cover all of the candidates thoroughly and fairly, regardless of which campaign has the biggest bank account. We need to give all sides a chance to speak in campaign stories in order for readers to come away with the most complete understanding of the issue.
Another important safeguard for maintaining the integrity of the news coverage of campaigns is to be sure the reader can clearly identify what content is a paid advertisement and what content is a news article. Our advertisement department is careful to make sure political ads look like ads, not like news articles.
Now on to a bit of housekeeping:
The Citizen's Pet Idol contest, which I wrote about last month, moves to the second round in Sunday's paper. Be sure to check out which reader pets are moving on in the competition. This promotion is raising funds for Newspaper in Education, a program that provides free newspaper subscriptions to schools for their use in the classroom.
Executive editor Jeremy Boyer's columns run Saturdays in The Citizen and he can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 231 or jeremy.boyer@lee.net
