BulletProofBlog the blog on crisis communications

As anyone who’s ever worked as a publicist can attest, influencing what a major newspaper chooses to cover isn’t always easy. But as the print journalism business continues to feel the financial squeeze of a media landscape that grows more competitive with each passing day, some companies are using a powerful and influential tool to dictate the news – their advertising dollars.

According to a story in Monday’s Wall Street Journal, the print edition of the Detroit Free Press recently published a series of articles on Medicare open enrollment at the behest of Humana Inc., one of the nation’s largest health insurance companies. Humana wasn’t mentioned in any of the pieces and it didn’t have any editorial control over their content or tone, but it did place advertisements directly adjacent to the stories – thus increasing the chances that their ads would be spotted by those who are closely following healthcare developments.

Back in September, the paper ran two articles on education that appeared directly above advertisements highlighting Target’s efforts to support schools in and around Detroit. This time, the stories weren’t the company’s idea, but Target did have a say in ensuring that the articles ran on days when readership is highest and that the eyes drawn to its ads belonged to people who care about educational issues.

A few years ago, such editorial “cooperation” between a newspaper and its advertisers would have been unthinkable. But today, it may be a sign of what’s to come. As the Editor and Publisher of the Detroit Free Press, Paul Anger, put it, “Editorial content needs to remain, and does remain, with the newsroom – but where we can find the connections that make sense for marketing purposes, that’s something that we need to be open to.”

While it’s still too early to call what’s happening at the Detroit Free Press a trend, companies across the country would be well-advised to examine the ways in which companies are blending marketing and strategic communications to not only draw more attention to their messages; but the right attention. As advertising dollars grow harder and harder to come by, newspapers may become more open to outside influence than they ever have been before.