Stating it plainly

The separation of advertising and editorial in magazines has been a topic of much discussion recently. Ad managers are reporting huge pressure from advertisers for concessions. Editors express concern. But often publishers keep mum. When the most recent revision of the advertising guidelines comes out from the Canadian Society of Magazine Editors, there will be many publishers who make all the right noises but then ignore them.

Not so Rolf Priesnitz, of Natural Life magazine, who used his Publisher's Letter in the current issue to restate what he thinks is obvious.

I have learned, through 30 years of publishing this magazine, that thinking readers are skeptical of both editorial and advertising that seem to support each other. On the other hand, when readers trust that our articles are unbiased and not trying to sell them anything, they trust everything in the magazine, including the advertising.