THE ETHICS OF ADS IN THE FRONT PAGE

The Wall Street Journal will begin running ads on its front page in September.

Big deal, they are doing it right now in the European and Asian tabloid editions!

It will be a square-shaped ad (they're calling it a "jewel box") that will run in the lower right-hand corner of the page.

The ad will bring in more than $75,000 a pop.

Now read this:

“As a traditionalist, I’m not thrilled by the idea,” said Bob Steele, who specializes in ethics and values at the Poynter Institute. Front pages, he said, should be reserved for what the collective community considers to be news. Gannett has changed this equation considerably in the last few years with section-front and front-page ads, and now the Internet has presented a whole new table top. The question becomes, how do newspapers protect their journalistic integrity at the same time they develop new revenue streams?”

Well, my friend, you need some travel overseas, where newspapers were born as ad-newsletters!

Foor many centuries, newspapers had just ads in the front pages.

Go to Finland and you will see how the HELSINGIN SANOMAT, "The New York Times of Scandinavia" still has a front pages just with ads.

Like The Times of London, La Vanguardia of Barcelona and almost all the great European quality newspapers used to have.

So, well done WSJ!

They need this money to keep the great quality of the paper.