• by Joe Mandese , March 15, 2005

As the business press prepares for its annual awards show this week celebrating the best in B-to-B editorial content, a small group of trade magazine editors are putting the finishing touches on a revised code of ethics that would serve as the industry's new standard for dealing with advertising and editorial matters in the digital age. The changes being made by the editorial committee of American Business Media, will be unveiled following Wednesday's presentation of the 51st Annual Jesse H. Neal Awards National Business Journalism Awards at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York, and are likely to include a more rigorous definition of what constitutes church and state, something that's increasingly unapparent in the digital publishing world.

The new guidelines also come at a time when the lines between advertising and editorial are blurring for all media, including consumer magazines, occasionally newspapers, and especially on television. For example, a new consumer magazine trade promotion campaign developed by the Magazine Publishers of America and targeted at ad industry execs and media buyers, crosses the line by depicting mock editorial covers of the magazines in the future, which are actually trade ads. Those ads are being distributed only to industry executives and not to consumers, but the creative strategy speaks to the sometimes blurry lines between the two.

Meanwhile, Madison Avenue is rushing forward on a spate of branded content and product placement deals that sometimes skirt full disclosure between advertising and content, and the practice is even beginning to encroach on television news programming, as public relations firms, and so-called video news release producers, begin buying time on TV outlets to run pseudo newscasts that are really product or corporate pitches.

Since the last revision of the ABM's code of ethics, the business press has seen the rise of custom publishing, e-centric tools and single-sponsor projects, which the editorial committee says has prompted the need to review fundamentals of editorial independence and integrity.

"It's always a little amazing how each new revolution in publishing creates a simultaneous need to reinforce the bedrock," states Tom Temin, senior vice president-editorial, PostNewsweek Tech Media, who chaired the Code of Ethics subcommittee. "Anyone can--and does--publish anything online these days. So those of us who've invested heavily in quality, trusted brands must stay vigilant about basics like editorial integrity."