Journalism's Primary Duty Is To Its Readers, Not Advertisers

"Henry Luce, a co-founder of TIME, disdained the notion of giveaway publications that relied solely on ad revenue. He called that formula "morally abhorrent" and also "economically self-defeating." That was because he believed that good journalism required that a publication's primary duty be to its readers, not to its advertisers. In an advertising-only revenue model, the incentive is perverse. It is also self-defeating, because eventually you will weaken your bond with your readers if you do not feel directly dependent on them for your revenue."
Time, "How To Save Your Newspaper", 2009 

I keep thinking about this quote but forgetting where I first saw it, so I'm parking it here. It's a good thought; probably applies to a lot of web and mobile apps, too.

5 comments:

  1. When there is good quality of writing and essential news is regularly published on a newspaper then the reader is benefited.More number of reader will read that newspaper and hence it will be popular.Hence it will increase the popularity and can get branded advertisement easily.Thank you for sharing this informative article.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I couldn't have said this better myself. I believe the readers come first, focus on them and you will be rewarded accordingly.

    ReplyDelete
  3. That was because he believed that good journalism required that a publication's primary duty be to its readers, not to its advertisers. In an advertising-only revenue model.
    aghori

    ReplyDelete
  4. I first saw a quote on this relationship (reader>newspaper<advertiser) in "Howard Gossage, Is there Any Hope for Advertising?" when I was doing research for my MA Advertising dissertation in 2006 (when I first encountered your blog, actually). Snippet here:

    ..."Here one should highlight the importance of the relationship of the audience and the media they consume, something which Howard Luck Gossage, one of America’s most innovative admen and an outspoken critic of advertising, criticised the communications industries, and the advertising industry in particular for not fully appreciating. Gossage, referring to newspapers, wrote that the demise of a publication is usually not because its readers didn’t like it, but the advertisers didn’t, and that if asked, readers would probably offer their support to continue its publication. The example of OhMyNews and the ‘tip jar’ would seem to confirm this.

    Gossage wrote: "If advertisers and publishers could begin to appreciate that index, the relationship between a medium, its audience and its advertisers could be substantially improved."

    It is an important consideration for companies and agencies aiming to commercialise the World Wide Web and particularly relevant as consumers adopt a more active role in the communications process – as they assume the role of the media."

    ReplyDelete

I am moderating all comments to weed out spam (there's a lot of it). Comments are usually approved within a day.

Related Posts with Thumbnails