It diminishes the stature of the national business newspaper of record that they permit post it note type ads to be stuck on their front page, over editorial content. It is even worse when the ad is for an in-house publication.
This is what has happened to the Australian Financial Review this weekend. An ad for the BRW business magazine has been stuck on the front page. It pulls focus and creates litter as customers rip the ad off after they have purchased the title.
What do I care, all I do is sell the newspaper? My comments here are more as a newspaper fan, someone who respects the medium and what it stands for. These stuck on ads demean the medium and serve as a reminder of the influence the bean counters exert over editorial content. They reduce my trust in the medium.
Seems that Fairfax like to bastardise their newspapers for the sake of a few $$$. Their community papers that we get in our letterbox at home often have the entire front page sold to advertising, which to me usually means it goes straight into the recycle as it looks like junk mail. Not really sure that’s what they have in mind!!
I saw a copy of the NZ Herald recently which had a post it stuck to the front. The entire rear surface of the postit was sticky, not just a strip across the top as the SMH/Age/AFR ones are. Needless to say the front page was almost unreadable after that came off.