Show Us The Money

Advertising is the life blood of any media not run by volunteer zealots like ourselves. For a newspaper, subscriptions pay for only a small percentage of operating expenses. That said, several trends at the local newspaper are disturbing:

1. Advertising is becoming more intrusive on the pages of the Amarillo Globe-News. Editorial content is frequently secondary in layout importance, squeezed in wherever it can fit around the ever-increasing-in-both-content-and-size advertisements. Even front-page content is frequently obscured by advertising stickers, slapped on just before the newspapers go out.

2. Businesses have been purchasing large numbers of complimentary newspapers which appear to be delivered by newspaper carriers on their regular routes with additional advertising included.

3. The AGN website, with increasing frequency, is prefaced by an intrusive and noisy animated click-through ad.

We understand that we live on planet Capitalism and that advertising is a necessary evil. But it is ever the responsibility of media to be very careful about maintaining balance between journalistic responsibility and the necessity of paying the bills. We have no proof that that the AGN has upset this balance beyond repair, but these and other incidents point to an increasing and dangerous coziness between the news desks and advertisers. The Panhandle Truth Squad will be following the money trail.

SPACEDARK