dm says:

So, MSNBC got the AP to write a bogus story because they had an ad that only shows up some of the time? Cause when I look now I see an AmEx ad.

Sorry, if you’re going to claim conspiracy, good reviews of movies with strong actors and directors and a feel good plot appearing on an aggregator page with an ad for the movie is a bit of a stretch.

Rufus says:

Journalists are 50% showmen, 49% parrots, 1% investigators.

Except for Dvorak of course 🙂

Sigma says:

Well given it’s Cherman I’m not surprised at the eagerness to jump at a coincidence.

But another thing to take into consideration is this: Most ad services base their advertisements off of page content. So that story is part of the content of the page.

Also, #2, congrats and I too use ad blocking software but I use ABP.

Mr. Fusionq says:

#6, pedro,

The part you fail to understand is the difference between marketing and editorial content. Neither has control of the other in real news outlets.

Awake says:

Obviously Chernan has no clue as to how Internet advertising works these days. Given how technically primitive this blog is, I’m not surprised by the ignorance.

On modern websites the ads are automatically matched to page content. When the page is sent to you, it is simultaneously sent to the adserver, which analyzes the content and matches any ads that it may have in its directory to what is being presented to the reader.

So if there is an article on cars, you may get an ad for Ford; if there is an article on gold, you may get an ad for gold coins, and if there is a movie review, you may get an ad for the movie.

Refreshing the page often presents you with an ad for something completely different although the main page content is the same.

If you frequent political blogs you often see quite ironic ads, like an article might mention what a rube Sarah Palin really is, and on the same page you may get an ad for “Support Sarah Palin and her values”

The OP is showing his ignorance.

The0ne says:

#4

I’m with you.

pfkad says:

#3: Eliminate the 1% and, yup, you nailed Dvorak.org.

Reganvelter says:

Head-On.
Apply directly to the forehead!

By the Advertisers logic here,it should be possible to absorb the 2% news,30% opinion and the remaining fraction of adverts directly through the epidermis through some weird cellular mitosis simply by wrapping a newspaper around your melon.
It’s equally effective at wrapping fish or for lining the bird cage.

My favorite use for newspapers is cleaning the cars windshield.
If I want 24/7 opinion then I’ll turn on the cable network news.

I noted that ad placement is sometimes tied to the history and cookies cached in My browser.

Animby says:

#2 & #5 – I too have an ad blocker but I let most of these pages take a pass. If not for the ads, they wouldn’t be able to provide the content. I invoke the ABP when the ads get animated (ie distracting) or pop up over the content or, for whatever reason, annoy me. You know, every now and then, I see an ad I find interesting or useful. I try to click on those ads even if I know I’m not going to buy a product or service from them, just so they know their ad piqued my interest.

Mr. Fusion says:

#14, Serious,

I don’t consider our local weekly, free, “paper”, a real news outlet.

Yes, I know that PR usually sends copy to their favorite reporter / editor for consideration. Too many editors have either been burned in the past or know another editor that has taken a fall when the PR copy turned out wrong.

Often, if a company knows a magazine is doing a review on their product, they will place their ad or even several. That is well understood. But again NO self respecting news outlet will allow marketing to dictate their stories.

In this case the blog editor is claiming the review and ads were done in collusion. A company the size of NBC can’t take the chance of being caught selling their editorial space. No more than the NY Times, Washington Post, McClatchy Newspapers, Bloomberg, AP, Reuters, CBS and others would dare risk their credibility. All these outlets, and many more, will not simply reprint a press release although that may be the basis for a story.

Yes, most market research is paid for by concerned interests. Any decent reporter will sift through the bullshit or make a disclaimer as to the source.

*

I’m glad you noticed and referenced FOX news and gold. FOX does have a credibility problem. Even if 95% of FOX stories are good, we never know when they will present that 5%.

I also commend you on well presented arguments, something I don’t always see here.

TTHor says:

Serious #23 – way to go. That pretty much concludes that debate I guess. Extremely well presented arguments as the opponent Fusion #21 points out. Good to see intelligent arguments as that is the whole idea around exchange of opinion. Many of us should pay attention to that… myself included.

Serious says:

Fusion, you obviously need to re-read what i wrote.. from start until end. I also suggest studying marketing and you’ll learn about tactics like these.

1. the headline is deceptive and misleading, unless you read until the last paragraph of the article, which if you know a tad bit about how people read, majority of readers have stopped reading, so they would not know who or what the sample is, just what skewed conclusions have been drawn.

2. Sampling error – is the error observed in the specific sample. We don’t know whether it is a convenience sampling, matched random sampling etc.. this is important. As stated the data is far from a representative sample and for a layman they would not know this.

This was one of many posts CNN have made, which are purposely misleading. Even when watching CNN on TV you’ll see them do this all the time. Google and you will find hundreds of posts about this. Nothing new.

The company that make the calls and the questions they ask have a lot to do with what the results of a poll is.. if you want your poll to be properly accepted, then you open the questions, sampling etc.. to scrutiny – example of exxon who created it’s own polling firm. Have you ever worked with a marketing research firm or a PR firm? I have..

My aim at pointing out who did the poll and what political direction their directors have is to show the possibility of things being skewed – not that it is. I did not insist on there being a connection, i merely asked whether you knew all of the data when you looked at the poll? Did you know that it was not conducted by an independent firm? Would you say that Murdoch is politically involved in Fox? or is that just smear tactics? I don’t see how it differs.

Yes they printed the same editorial piece.. did i say it was something else? Because i can’t see that in my post.. and yes dedicating your front page to an editorial, allows to put a fairly heavy political message on the front page without taking fire on editors side for political bias, because they can make the factual claim that they didn’t write it. It takes considerable time and effort and political cooperation to print the same editorial in 56 leading newspapers around the world.. doesnt it? (maybe some incentive as well? or major support for the message?)

None of my examples are wrong.. If you refuse to do your own investigation and deny that liberal media commit to the same wrongdoings as conservative, it is your loss. Spend some time googling on the topics i posted and you will see even more proof. Especially PR as PSA.. anyone who’ve taken marketing 101 have had to analyze these – pick up any textbook on marketing, market research, public relations or propaganda and you will have a hoard. Most universities offer propaganda for any marketing major, and I strongly suggest learning about it, because it is sometimes the most effective ways of reaching the public. To me it is the same as ignoring lobbyists in government for both democrats and republicans… or denying that every person can be both good and bad.

I know from first hand experience and will live with the knowledge, you will continue on your way and i really wouldn’t care – there is a reason why my clients get their articles in the newspaper and people blissfully and ignorantly continue reading it as as “real news”; you make my job easier and I thank you for that. I thought I would try to open your eyes somewhat, but obviously i didn’t do too well of a job. Agencies also get bloggers to post messages on blogs such as this for product placements – even political messages! At least it shows how successfully placed PR and skewed marketing research works. This is really basic marketing 101…