LA Times fools readers with dramatic advertorial

It is not only in india, paid news are everywhere be fooling readers. This is an interesting post by Carole Wurzelbacher on editorsweblog....

The Los Angeles Times recently ran a convincing advertorial claiming that parts of Universal Studios had been destroyed by a mysterious attack, reports Los Angeles Observed. The ad, which was designed to fool readers in thinking it was a legitimate story being reported by LA Times, featured articles with headlines such as "Universal Studios Hollywood Partially Destroyed" and the absurd "Colossal Footprints Found on Beach."
The only indication that the advertorial was in fact fake was the word "advertisement" written in small red letters under the page title that announced the "LATExtra" section. Overall, considering that the advertisement exactly resembles a Times publication with only a tiny indication that it isn't, the advertisement seems to be specifically designed to mislead readers.

The LA Times advertorial has already created a good deal of backlash. Charles Apple, writing for Visual Editors, calls the ad a "four-page wrap in which advertising copy is masquerading as news - once again - in the once-respectable Los Angeles Times." Apple expresses further astonishment at the ad, quoting an "anonymous tipster" who reported that the ad was wrapped around the paper for home subscribers, making the ad the first part of the newspaper subscribers saw when they picked up the morning paper.

Moreover, LA Observed reports, 5 members of the LA County Board of Supervisors have already signed a protest letter asking the Sam Zell, owner of the Times, to "stop selling its front pages to advertisers, especially in such an offensive and alarming manner."

Advertorials have been for some time a point of ethical contestation. Notably, the Detroit Free Press also came under criticism when it took story suggestions from an advertiser. When it was facing uncomfortably low circulation figures, the DFP took a story suggestion from Humana, which then bough advertising space next to the article.

In response to the Times debacle, Times publisher Eddy Hartenstein is quoted on an LAT blog saying "The Universal Studios Hollywood ad wrapping Thursday's LATExtra section met our advertising guidelines, including a large red 'advertisement' notification at the top of the page."

Writing for LA Observed, Kevin Roderick summed up the advertising debacle quite succinctly: "It all brings to mind the editor's expressed desire to 'own Hollywood coverage' . . . or is it the other way around?"