Funding Quality News and Journalism

Introduction

Advertising support for journalism has emerged over a number of years as a thorny issue for marketers and the digital advertising supply chain. If you attend digital advertising industry events, you know that marketers and agencies are unified in their vocal support for professional journalism and its importance as a crucial part of democracies around the world. Given the vocal support, why does journalism continue to struggle for the ad dollars necessary to thrive?

In the pre-digital age, news – be it in the form of network and local broadcasts, newspapers, or radio – was considered a premium source of advertising inventory. The reverence that society had for the news media as a public trust lent a halo of credibility to the brands that advertised with journalism properties across media types.

While many of us are still debating the appropriate use and inclusion of news in our media and advertising plans, news and journalism are being hit hard by a society who is leans into bite-sized (or less) snippets of partisan news and being challenged by politicians and governments around the world. In fact, violence and assaults against journalists are up - 4 years running, worldwide.

News and journalism serve a critical purpose in uncovering truth to provide integrity and stability in our societies. Societies acting without truth as an equalizer to varied opinions operate in chaos. Advertisers have a responsibility to help journalism continue to survive, even thrive, in a world where truth becomes harder to recognize.

The emergence of brand safety and suitability as a major concern for media buyers comes directly from the democratization of publishing. Whether it be blogs, user-generated content video platforms, social networks, or inexpensive content management software there are many technology tools that have reduced the cost in time and money of reaching a global audience to nearly zero. These technological advancements are incredibly liberating for creators of all types who might not, in another era, have been heard because their viewpoints weren’t sufficiently mainstream or aligned to the way corporate media evolved. This liberation comes at a price though, and that is the reputational risk for being in the wrong content at any moment in time.

In this Knowledge Center, you will find some discussion and resources to help you zero in on the issues at play around news/journalism and its role for society and citizens. Finding your suitability for news and journalistic forays is buoyed by understanding your sense of responsibility and the role it plays in your marketing - or operations, if you are a publisher.