Are newspapers held to a higher standard then every other media?
Submitted by Anonymous Source (not verified) on Tue, 10/24/2006 - 10:23pm.

What is the deal with this post?

A small paper on the coast is accussed of being un-ethical because it ran political ads in a political special section? How much money do you think the paper brought in on this anyway? $5,000? $10,000? $15,000?

Whatever the amount, it's nothing compared to all the money radio, television, direct mail and cable are raking in during this political season.

Across the state newspapers are doing their job covering all the races and ballot measures, and interviewing candidates. But when it comes to selling a few ads, a newspaper is unethical?

The average reader doesn't care if the ad is on the opinion page or the obit page. They just want the facts and most know that the newspaper is the best source for this.

No one turns on the television or the radio waiting for the next political hate ad to tell them how untrustworthy the other candidate is.

Look back a few posts and look up the discussion on how much the candidates were spending on advertising. The real ethical issue is the slap in the face newspapers get because political candidates don't advertise in newspapers. They just use the newspapers for their letter writing campaigns and to brag if they received that paper's endorsement.

Maybe the ethical question is - "How are other mediums serving local voters to justify the millions they are making each political season?"

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