E-Media Tidbits

Poynter.org Unintentionally, Poynter.org ran a post about an advertiser along an ad from that advertiser. Click to enlarge.

That juxtaposition wasn't intentional, but it definitely didn't look good.

Tidbits reader Denise Covert commented on that post: "Conflict of Interest! This article about the wonders of Grouptivity.com appears below a banner ad at the top of the page ... for Grouptivity.com. C'mon, Poynter. You're kidding me, right?"

While I disagree her "wonders of..." characterization of Riefler's post, Covert succinctly voiced the problem: For news and journalism organizations, the appearance of a conflict of interest can be as damaging as an actual conflict of interest. Also, it seems that conflicts of interest may happen by accident, as well as by intention.

Poynter Online editor Bill Mitchell explained what happened: "Colleen Eddy, who directs the Poynter Career Center and also sells advertising in other parts of Poynter Online, forwarded an e-mail to me Tuesday, without comment, from someone at Grouptivity pitching coverage [that appeared to be timely] ... I scanned the release and figured it might be something for Tidbits. I forwarded Colleen's e-mail with this note to [Tidbits editor] Amy [Gahran]: 'Forwarding this just FYI in case a Tidbit lies within.'

"Amy shared the Grouptivity release with Tidbits contributors," Bill continued, "and Katja Riefler wrote the item. Neither Amy nor Katja nor I knew Grouptivity had purchased an ad. I learned about it earlier today [August 1] when I spotted Katja's report directly beneath the banner ad. I sent Amy a note assuring her that I was unaware of the pending ad when I forwarded the pitch for coverage. In retrospect, I wish I had posted this [blog comment] at the same time."

Did this chain of interaction breach Poynter's advertising/editorial firewall and create a conflict of interest? I think that's open to debate. Was there any editorial intent here to puff an advertiser? Speaking for myself -- and I believe my Poynter colleagues would say the same -- definitely not.

That said, this snafu represents a problem that that any news organization faces -- especially online. In fact, this problem is often more difficult to avoid online since many online ads are delivered through automated ad-serving systems, varying which ads display on pages viewed by individual users. (If you refresh your browser and see the ads change, that's why. I suspect that could be why washingtonpost.com forced me to watch a commercial mocking a car crash before viewing its photo gallery of the Minneapolis bridge collapse, which killed several motorists.)

What can news and journalism organizations do to prevent inadvertent conflicts of interest? How is this handled at your news org? What more could we have done -- and should we do in the future -- to prevent these problems on Poynter Online? Please comment below.