Best news stories getting lost in Gazette’s wrap ads
Talk about burying the lede! Once again, I unfolded the Gazette delivered to my home and found one-third of the front page hidden behind an advertising “wrap” which obscured both the headline and news stories. Quite frankly, I find this practice, which has become all too frequent, to be more than simply troublesome, but an unwelcome and disturbing change which diminishes the Gazette’s journalistic obligations. Advertising in newspapers has a long history, and often economic survival depends on advertising revenue. I accept this reality, despite the fact that it may double the size and weight of some editions. Furthermore, I cannot deny the benefit I’ve realized from sale ads and coupons found mixed with the news of the day. However, if advertising is a necessary (and at times useful) evil in journalism, it is — or at least should be — the servant, and not the master. Since before our Revolution, the purpose of newspapers has been to deliver information citizens need to participate in their government. Jefferson famously argued that newspapers were necessary since “the basis of our government being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right.” The information newspapers provide is essential for a republic to thrive. However, when advertising obscures the day’s news, the tables appear to have been turned. Rather than delivering news and information with advertising as a supplement, the Gazette appears to be delivering advertising with news as a supplement. This is not, in my opinion, a good trend and one that should be discontinued before it encroaches beyond one-third of the front page.
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