Chicago Tribune Reporters Don't Want Readers' Pre-Approval

theodp writes "Irked by the Marketing department's solicitation of subscribers' opinions on stories before they were published, 55 reporters and editors at the Chicago Tribune signed an e-mail demanding the practice be stopped. 'It is a fundamental principle of journalism that we do not give people outside the newspaper the option of deciding whether or not we should publish a story, whether they be advertisers, politicians or just regular readers,' the e-mail read."

Comments

Re:"The News" is supposed to be a historical recor

[erroneus]

I once worked for the Dallas Observer, a largely editorial news weekly rag. The music editor wrote an opinion piece that stated things largely as he saw them. It insulted, in some way, one of the paper's advertisers. The music editor lost his job as the advertiser would accept nothing less.

This is a true tragedy in the world of journalism. The editorial and sales sides are always at odds with one another, but I have never seen editorial win... not ever.

To their credit, the journalists at that paper truly work in the spirit that the press is supposed to work under. I have witnessed the animosity first-hand. But too often, money wins.

Re:Can't figure out who else might do this ..

[jcr]

For as long as I can remember, the purpose of newspapers has been "Make as much money as you can, by any means you can get away with".

There was a period before that, when the purpose of any newspaper was to advocate a political agenda. Every party or movement had its own newspaper, and they were quite up front about where they were coming from.

This idea of the "impartial" journalist was mostly a 20th-century affectation.

-jcr