Politics ads and tricky ethics
Online news sites are grappling with tough questions this political season when it comes to political ads -- how to reap income from the $1.25 billion expected to be spent on political ads, while still maintaining credibility. From March until the end of May 2004, the Kerry and Bush campaigns spent roughly $400,000 apiece on Internet ads, according to TNS Media Intelligence/Campaign Media Analysis Group.
Online ad targeting technology means that its increasinly common for ads to appear next to articles about related subjects. But that puts news sites in the awkward position of having ads for Kerry and Bush run next to political coverage.
Here's a rundown from The Washington Post of what major news sites political ad policies are:
• USA Today's Web site refuses to run political ads in its politics or elections sections.
The Web sites of the Seattle Times and Seattle Post-Intelligencer do not run "big-box" political ads except on their non-news pages.
• Washingtonpost.com runs political ads throughout its site, including on its home page.
• The New York Times's Web site runs campaign ads in its "general news stories and section fronts," as well as on its home page.
• AOL accepts political ads as long as they meet AOL's community standards. AOL's standards forbid content that attacks ethnic or religious groups and bar unsubstantiated attacks against individuals. America Online has earned a reputation among political advertisers for being especially choosy about political ads, sometimes sending them back for rewrites or flat-out rejecting them.
• Microsoft's MSN.com staff vets ads for credibility before they run, said Cyrus Krohn, publisher and political advertising manager for Slate.com, MSN's online magazine. Krohn said the site reserves the right to reject any ad it feels is in poor taste or fails to meet its community standards. MSN.com has rejected one political ad during this election cycle, a spot sponsored by an anti-abortion group.
• Yahoo.com, which ran almost no political ads in 2000, accepted ads this year from the Kerry and Bush campaigns as well from political advocacy groups. Yahoo also is debating whether it will allow political ads to appear anywhere on its homepage.
• Yahoo.com, CNN and AOL will not run any political ads in the 24-hour window before the polls open on Election Day in November.
Aug 02, 2004 | E-MAIL | SAVE | PRINT | PERMALINK | DISCUSS(0)
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