Interesting debate happening in regards to the Marie Claire podcast. There’s seems to be very little difference between an advertorial and editorial in their podcast.

I had a short freelance journalist career while in university which continued a couple years after graduation. I even took a few night courses at Ryerson University to learn about the magazine publishing process.

As a journalist, I came across many debates about what is editorial and what is advertising. Every association that represents journalists has a guiding set of principles that govern how an article should appear in a magazine and where an ad should be placed. The American Society of Magazine Editors publish guidelines to help magazine editors:

“[make] the difference between advertising and editorial content so that it’s transparent to readers and that there is no advertiser influence or pressure on editorial independence.”

A few years back, Flare magazine – Canada’s answer to Vogue – got into a big hooie when they published details about a contest to win a Ford Focus on the front cover of their magazine. There was a huge hoopla because many in the magazine business felt that Flare’s integrity was compromised because the magazine didn’t make the distinction between advertising and editorial.

So, should there be guidelines – podcasting guidelines – so that those who enter this arena know what is acceptable and what isn’t in terms of content?

On the one hand, no. Podcasters do a pretty good job of telling their audience what’s a host recommendation and what’s isn’t. “This message is brought to you by…” or “Today’s episode is sponsored by…” are dead giveaways that that’s the sponsored portion of their show.

Yet, despite the fact that as podcasters, we know how to make the distinction between an ad and our podcast content, not every podcaster does. Especially newer podcasters who think they can use their podcast as an infomercial or to blur the lines between advertising and editorial.

Yet, the bigger question is – where would newer podcasters go to get these guidelines? If I wanted to publish a magazine, I’d go to an association of magazine publishers’ website. If I wanted to get guidelines as a journalist, I’d go to the website of an association that represents journalists. One spot for all the information I need.

As podcasters, we’re really good with lists. We know where to point people to list their podcasts. We RSS to death our favourite podcasts. Yet, how come after 2-years, we still haven’t been able to organize ourselves into an association? An association of our peers who puts together information that we can all read and follow?

Instead, we’re so busy fussing over being a Rich Podcaster or a Poor Podcaster (doesn’t have the same ring as Rich Dad, Poor Dad, huh?), that we’re forgetting that there’s new podcasters popping every minute that need our advice and guidance.

Pretty soon, the podcasting purists will be outnumbered. The number of innovators and early adopters will soon be eclipsed by the early majority and late majority. The good news is that the latter group doesn’t want to take risks (according to Malcolm Gladwell in his book The Tipping Point).

However, if they don’t have principles to follow, the early and late majority will use old and antiquated paradigms. As with the case of Marie Claire, using old paradigms in new media will land you in hot water.

A list of guidelines will keep us ethical and honest and I’m not talking about creating guidelines for frequency, format, length, etc. Instead, these guidelines should speak to how we handle advertising, sponsorship, product placement, host recommendations and product reviews in our podcasts.

Yes, we should be transparent and yes, we should be open about what we’re doing. I get it. But unfortunately, like those at Marie Claire, not everyone does.

Tags: podcasting, magazines, marie claire, malcolm gladwell