Invasion of the advertorials.

• Author: Saltzman, Joe
• Position: WORDS & IMAGES

THE BLURRING OF THE LINE between news and entertainment has been going on for hundreds of years but, in the mid 20th century, most U.S. newspapers made a serious attempt to separate the two in specific and tangible ways. The editorial and the advertising departments were re-created as separate entities so editorial could maintain a show of independence. Advertising was relegated to specific pages and was not supposed to interfere with editorial decision-making.

In the 21st century, with newspapers under great economic stress, things seem to be changing. The Los Angeles Times, for instance, has sold its breaking-news front page twice to an advertiser. In March, Disney purchased space for $700,000 to promote the release of one of its films, "Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland." In June, it did it again: King Kong invaded the front page of the paper in a four-page spread advertising Universal Studio's new ride. (Some might argue that the Universal Studios Hollywood ad wrapped around the LATExtra section, and not the front page of the newspaper, but most people receiving the paper at home saw LATExtra wrapped around the entire newspaper.)

The headlines and story were handled in typical news fashion across four pages. Some of the headlines read: "Mysterious Gaping Hole Found in Ocean Liner"; "Universal Studios Hollywood Partially Destroyed"; "Colossal Footprints Found"; and "Dodger Stadium Heavily Battered."

At first, the story seemed strange to even an experienced reader's eye. There was no report of injuries or deaths and the reason for the damage was left vague, The average reader had to wonder what was going on. The LATExtra flag on the front page of the advertisement nearly was identical to one that appears on the daily news section. The word "advertisement" did appear in red just below the flag, but who was looking there when a shocking headline and pictures of the "destruction" covered the page. Moreover, those handling the Universal Studios' advertising did an excellent job of mimicking real-life news coverage. The copy and photos were designed to look exactly like what readers expect of a major disaster. The wreckage was not immediately ascribed to a giant ape's rampage across Los Angeles, but to a mysterious freak of nature--and there were additional news stories and photos describing in detail damage to Dodger Stadium, airports, beaches, and the Hollywood Sign.

The fact that a major newspaper sold space in that manner drew outrage...