Business Journal Sticks by Ethics Concerning Advertisers

We’ve never given ourselves kudos in this column, but we thought we deserved it this time.

We were recently contacted by Alice Walker, who owns an advertising agency in Springdale called Creative Marketing and Advertising Concepts. Walker was apparently upset because we had published a story about small area retailers in our April 30 issue, and we didn’t mention a jewelry store that is one of her clients.

Since her client advertises in the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal, Walker said, we should have mentioned the business in the story. We told her we don’t write about businesses simply because they advertise in the Business Journal. That would be a violation of journalistic ethics. There is a definite line between news and advertising at the Business Journal, which is the case at every respectable news publication.

Walker said the overlap of news and advertising was a common practice when she worked at television station KPOM/KFAA, NBC 24/51, in Rogers.

David Needham, vice president and general manager for the station, said 24/51 doesn’t target advertisers for stories, but he will sometimes recommend an advertiser be used as an expert if one is needed for a comment during a news segment.

Needham said Walker worked in 24/51’s advertising department for a few years in the mid-1990s, when the station didn’t have a newscast. NBC 24/51 resumed its newscast in 2000 after an eight-year hiatus.

We think at least a small amount of journalism background should be a prerequisite for lecturing editors on how to do their jobs.