'Los Angeles Times' Dabbles In E-Commerce

LA Times

Seeking new revenue streams to buttress its flagging bottom line, the Los Angeles Times unveiled plans for e-commerce deals that will place links to companies like Amazon and TicketNetwork in the text of certain articles and blog posts.

The new e-commerce program -- announced to staff in a memo from editor Russ Stanton and online editor Sean Gallagher on Tuesday -- is the latest in a series of unconventional moves by the newspaper as it struggles to stabilize its finances.

The editors said the e-commerce links won't appear in regular news articles, but will be limited to more lifestyle-related content, including "Health, Image, Food, Travel, Books, Entertainment and Sports articles," as well as online photo galleries.

A similar system of e-commerce links in the text of articles and columns has been employed by the Chicago Tribune -- flagship publication of the Tribune Co., which also owns the LAT -- for about half a year.

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While previous LAT experiments with unorthodox print ad placements have excited negative comment, the new e-commerce initiatives are mostly unremarked in the trade press and blogosphere -- perhaps because unlike the print ad placements, the links aren't deliberately disguised as editorial content.

They will appear double-underlined in green, versus the blue single underline for an editorial link. The LAT editorial staff has no role in choosing which words become e-commerce links; a disclaimer separates the newspaper from the e-commerce destinations.

In March, the LAT allowed an eye-catching cover wrap to promote Disney's "Alice in Wonderland," starring Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter. The wrap featured Depp's character's face, superimposed on what appears to be the front page of the newspaper -- but is actually a fake. While the ad was not associated with any on the newspaper's real editorial content, the fake front page appears authentic enough, suggesting it was a deliberate attempt to fool readers, however briefly.

According to a report in The New York Times, Stanton and other editors protested the ad, but were overruled by the business side of the LAT.

The conflict between editorial and business operations at the LAT has been long simmering. Last year, management took heat for allowing an ad resembling an article on the front cover of the newspaper. The ad, for NBC's new LA police drama "Southland," was run over the objections of editor Russ Stanton and a dozen other senior editors. In an interview with TheWrap, LAT executive editor John Arthur called the front-page ad "horrible," "unfortunate" and "a mistake."

In the summer of 2008, the original Los Angeles Times Magazine was closed and replaced by a new publication, with a new editorial staff, entirely under the control of the Los Angeles Times Media Group. In short, control of the magazine came from the business -- not editorial -- side. For ethical reasons, Stanton requested that the Media Group not call itself the Los Angeles Times Magazine, since it is not under the control of the newspaper's editorial staff. The new publication was given a slightly different name: L.A. Los Angeles Times Magazine. However, John T. O'Loughlin, the executive vice president and CMO for target media at the LAT Media Group, has referred to the magazine as a "flagship publication" of the newspaper.

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