No Agenda Producers Update

The Saturday Lament

Producers and Supporters, We’ve zoomed past show 555 and are headed towards our 6th Anniversary show in a couple of weeks. Every 6th Anniversary show donation (click here) is greatly appreciated. Any donation, no matter how small or large, is important. You are what keeps this show going. Contribute today. What got my attention this week was not only some revelations about the corrupt media but some nomenclature and an entire infrastructure built around one of the most corrupt practices used by the media today. It’s an attempt for news outlets to stay in business or to pad their bottom line. It’s called Native Advertising. Last month I wrote about Panasonic using Mashable to publish an article that looked like any other article but was actually an advertisement. If you want to read that column, it is linked here.  In a recent publication there were some glowing reports about the effectiveness of this scam. Advertisers loved it and the publications loved the money. So much for ethics. And apparently the practice has a name I was unaware of, “Native Advertising.” When you research it, you find that the Huff Po, Mashable, Buzzfeed, Forbes and everyone in-between are using it because according to the publishers, “Nobody reads ads online.” So the idea is to trick readers into reading advertisements by making them look like an article. This isshameless, unethical and pathetic. That said, when I was an editor, there were some interesting stunts pulled but nothing like this.   With this sort of business model, it is obvious that the advertisers can take over the place. Why have anyone even writing for a publication when the whole thing can be native ads? Make the operation kind of like a warehouse for ads. Panasonic can write the camera review section and they pay to do it. Give the computer review segment to Dell – for a fee. Let Dell review new computers. You can see where this is headed. Over the past couple of years we have suspected that many feature stories on mainstream TV news is using variations on this idea. This tail wagging the dog is a huge problem with the Internet and the cheapening value of information. Advertising apparently cannot pay the bills online. Enter Mr. Corruption.  And now you know why the No Agenda Show is so good. We do not deal with advertisers. And you can be sure many have approached us with claims that we could make 10 times more money. We’d rather make the best podcast in the universe with your help. Look into this “native advertising” malarkey and you’ll be shocked. It’s everywhere and clouding the truth. Support us, please. Your co-host, John C. Dvorak PS Have a wonderful day.