the blur between editorial content and ads is not only happening online

I was just writing about how editorial content and ads (in this case through content-link-ads) merged and that it is even less apparent to users, what’s advertising and what’s not. And then I found this article saying that the same is happening in a couple of free dailies.

This blogpost also links to a page about the ethics of journalism, one them being:

Distinguish news from advertising and shun hybrids that blur the lines between the two.

I guess the fact that advertising (online and offline) has ever increasing difficulties reaching their target audience with relevant messages in relevant settings, this is just a logical sequence. However I fear this kind of trend, as it will completely blur the lines of commercial „information“ (<-- ads) and information in general. (via)