1. Why does your news outlet publish advertorials?
2. What are the differences in editorial treatment between sponsored
content versus regular stories filed by your writers?
3. Who writes the advertorial content? Do you assign staff or is the
content ready-made by the sponsors?
4. What factors do you consider when approving advertorials for
publication? Do news values still apply? Do you modify the content to fit your or the companys standards?
5. How do you measure the success of the advertorials published?
(eg. page views, click throughs, etc.)
6. Do you reject offers for sponsored content?
7. Do you experience pressure from advertisers to publish
advertorials? Pressure from higher-ups or the marketing department?
8. Do you think advertorials are effective as a marketing tool? Why or
why not?
9. How does your news outlet distinguish branded content from regular editorial content?
10. What can you say about the notion that advertorials are deceptive?
11. Would you say that advertorials can be potentially destructive to a
news outlets credibility? 12. Are there any ethics codebooks or in-house guidelines that you follow regarding the use of advertorials? Do you think these guides are enough to preserve the professionalism and integrity in the news outlet?