Sunday, September 30, 2012

Advertising for Journalism or Journalism for Advertising?

As I was reading the chapter by Bettig & Hall, it’s interesting to find that the “seeds” of objectivity, which has been deemed one of the most important occupational norms in journalism and, thus, evolved into a kind of moral philosophy, is partly (or deeply) associated with advertisers rather than with the purpose of journalism itself in American journalism history. That is, “the journalistic norm of objectivity was actually invented to help wire service stories across the land: to ease owner’s fears of alienating audiences and, increasingly, advertisers.”

Some studies have argued that the border between journalism and advertising in contemporary media is being increasingly blurred as a consequence of rapid commercialization. It seems that the ideology of advertising – selling capitalism – has been steeped in contemporary journalism and media organizations can no longer openly declare an ideology that is contrary to the logic of economics. I believe that advertisers determine not only the structure of media industries but also news contents with their money. In Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle holds that "the ends of the master arts are to be preferred to all the subordinate ends; for it is for the sake of the former that the latter are pursued." In this context, is it my overanxiety to anticipate that in the near future journalism would be the subordinate activity for advertising – journalism falls under advertising – and unethical journalistic behavior would be becoming more common for advertising revenue?

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