Dear Moonshine Ink
Many publications seem to run feature articles and news stories featuring their advertisers. I would love to know your publication’s policy on the separation of editorial and advertising? If one buys an ad BECAUSE of a feature to be written on them, wouldn’t that be called an ADVERTORIAL? I simply would like some clarification on your advertising and editorial policies… thank you.
~ Sincerely yours,
Hartley G. Lesser
High Sierra Media Group, Truckee
Dear Hartley,
Thank you for your inquiry. We’re happy to have the chance to articulate our policies in this arena.
This last month we had a few questions about this based on the fact that some election candidates were not included in our election coverage in the Oct/Nov edition. For the races we chose to cover, we contacted each and every candidate in that race, regardless of whether they advertised. The attempts at contact were the same across the board.
This reflects what has been a founding tenet of the paper: The policy at Moonshine Ink has always been that editorial content will for no reason whatsoever be dictated by advertising. That was Moonshine Ink’s policy from the beginning and it still remains that way today. In fact, the line is even more defined now, as we have more people on staff (versus the two when it started), which allows people to be dedicated to one or the other.
‘Advertorials’ are a rampant problem in media today. We regularly hear stories on this problem. If you’ll permit our soapbox, this is one of the main reasons we believe so strongly in locally-owned, locally-operated independent media. There isn’t some distant office or shareholder telling staff what they should or should not do, based on the ‘bottom line.’ We believe in the triple bottom line: economical, social, and natural. All these conditions are considered and met with each decision at Moonshine Ink.
By the way, the things that are affected by advertising are our efforts to support those who work in our office and our community businesses/organizations. We try our best to spend our Moonshine bucks back into our community so that the money spent in the area stays in the area.
~ Mayumi & Sara
