While reading Time Magazine, I found a short blurb about The NY Times putting a color picture advertisement on its front page (http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1870493,00.html). You can see the advertisement on the bottom of the page by clicking on this picture (http://www.nytimes.com/indexes/2009/01/05/pageone/scan/index.html). In my opinion, putting large advertisements on the bottom of the front pages of newspapers is clearly not "fit to print," as The Time's well-known mantra goes. Yes, times are tough (no pun intended), and the newspaper has cut back and merge sports and local news into the rest of the paper. However, there are several more ethical options to gaining more income than placing advertisements on the front page. An increase in advertising inside the newspaper, for instance, would be much less controversial. Why? The front page is the epitome of the news and, on a smaller level, the journalist's work for that particular day. When an average person picks up a copy of the paper, they will see the most important things that happen the previous day. An advertisement clearly does not fit this criteria. Also, The Times' ethics policy is that advertising and reporting need to be segregated. Putting an advertisement on the front page lowers this necessary barrier.
If someone has a strong opinion to the contrary, let me know by posting a comment. I'm interested to see what those who disagree with me think.
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