• by Masha Geller , June 26, 2001

Since the Interactive Advertising Bureau has been doing such a stupendous job helping the industry through this crunch we're in, twelve of the Internet's leading content brands have taken matters into their own hands, establishing their own Online Publishers Association (OPA).

The mission of this one is to represent the interests of high-quality online publishers before the advertising community, the press, the government and the public.

Michael Zimbalist, former EVP of ePod, an advertising technology company, will serve as acting executive director.

Whether these guys will stay true to their mission remains to be seen, of course, but so far they're planning to serve as "the voice of original, branded content providers, placing consumer trust at the center of its activities."

According to the launch announcement, the OPA will "offer balance and perspective on Internet publishing issues in the public discourse and act as a voice on First Amendment and intellectual property issues faced by the Internet publishing community."

More importantly, in the advertising arena, OPA plans to work with the advertising community to "further establish the effectiveness of the Internet as a marketing and brand- building medium."

They also plan to demonstrate that independent editorial environments, coupled with the public trust and audience loyalty, provide the natural home for commercial messages.

That's a tall order. I hope that under Zimbalist's leadership these guys will soon lay out a definite and specific plan of action, and not get stuck in selecting committees to select subcommittees who will then talk about "determining next steps" for many months to come. We have too many of those already.