After six months of debate, the 860-member American Society of Magazine Editors has unveiled its "Guidelines for New Media," eight mandates for separating editorial and advertising on the Web, from stern proclamations about the use of the word "advertorial" to vague suggestions about "placement."
The great crime for ASME is not so much the compromise of editorial integrity, but confusion. The group said that "a great number" of users were encountering "sites that have purposely blurred the distinction" between advertising and editorial," says Money managing editor and ASME board president Frank Lalli. In response, he adds, "the word 'advertorial' is headed out of commission."
The guidelines are both somewhat righteous and, occasionally, mired in traditional terminology. In place of "advertorial," the ASME recommends that the phrase "Special Advertising Section" run on any questionable areas. It requires that a site prominently display its name and logo to "make clear who controls the site" and strike any advertising sections from the table of contents.
But some terms aren't exactly clear to begin with. The guidelines specify that editors should control the use of hyperlinks on the site and shouldn't create content for advertising sections. But Lalli acknowledges that in new media, "editor" is as vague and touchy a word as "advertorial." With so much professional fluidity, says Lalli, "When you have an editorial person who the next day is asked to create advertising it confuses the role of that person."
Additionally, it can be flat-out impossible to tell how much the journalism has been altered, says Jupiter analyst Evan Neufeld. At ParentTime, a site developed by Procter & Gamble and Pathfinder, when "users are reading about their baby's care, and it says, 'Buy Pampers' [a Procter & Gamble product]," notes Neufeld, "People say, 'I've been duped.'" Even the "Sources and Resources" section recommends numerous Time Warner products, from CD-ROMs to magazines. "[ParentTime] would be invalid by ASME's standards," says Neufeld.
Neufeld points to the more elusive challenge: sniffing out the advertiser masquerading as a publisher. With colorful sites like Lifesaver's Candystand, the Lifesaver banner runs on the homepage, but its unclear whether it is an advertiser on the site or whether it owns it. On a spectrum of intrusiveness with banner ads on one side and advertorials on the other side, this is "off the scale," says Neufeld.
But the guidelines are ultimately voluntary, and ASME has no enforcement mechanism. At best, if a site violates the tenets, it will be declared ineligible for the yearly National Magazine Award for General Excellence in New Media, says ASME executive director Marlene Kahan. The 1981 guidelines for the publishing industry, however, quickly became standard because the industry wanted to regulate itself, says Lalli.
"What kind of leverage does [ASME] have?" says Neufeld. "It wouldn't be massive, but it's an important starting point."
From the Wired News New York Bureau at FEED magazine.
