> A long time ago, I worked for a brand that bought expensive advertisements in the nytimes. The sales team invited me to be a silent attendee of the 'page one meeting',
Is this normal? So when they were reporting on tobacco cancer and deciding if it went on the front page there would be like a silent Philip Morris employee in the room staring them down and sitting with the sales team? Or was there one-way glass or something?
There is supposed to be a “wall” between the advertising department and the newsroom but in my experience of working at a major daily newspaper some decades ago, there were plenty of windows and doors in that wall. Is this story worth risking 5% of our ad revenue?
Large advertisers may not have full control over stories that affect them, but their ad spend definitely can have an influence. A negative but not all that newsworthy might get buried a bit, and a positive but not newsworthy might gain some prominence. A negative but big story would probably not influenced.
It was normal, a large conference room table where the editors sat and then a ring of chairs around the room for guests and lackeys.
My imperfect recollection is that guests were briefly introduced by their chaperone to the room so that editors could speak up if there was a potential conflict.
For all of their faults, there certainly was nothing resembling outright impropriety. Just structural challenges.
Is this normal? So when they were reporting on tobacco cancer and deciding if it went on the front page there would be like a silent Philip Morris employee in the room staring them down and sitting with the sales team? Or was there one-way glass or something?