Online Ethics: Paid Promotional Content

Credibility is key to the success of all digital-media businesses with an editorial component. Users must trust the advice and information given, just as they do that of offline brands. While linking and other technologies can greatly enhance the user experience, the distinction between independent editorial content and paid promotional information should remain clear.

Thus we recommend the following standards (subject to change as the medium evolves):

1. The home page and all subsequent pages of a publication's Web site should display the publication's name and logo prominently, in order to clarify who controls the content of the site.
   
   
2. All online pages should clearly distinguish between editorial and advertising or sponsored content. If any content comes from a source other than the editors, it should be clearly labeled. A magazine's name or logo should not be used in a way that suggests editorial endorsement of an advertiser. The site's sponsorship policies should be clearly noted, either in text accompanying the article or on a disclosure page (see item 8), to clarify that the sponsor had no input regarding the content.
   
   
3. Hypertext links that appear within the editorial content of a site, including those within graphics, should be at the discretion of the editors. If links are paid for by advertisers, that should be disclosed to users.
   
   
4. Special advertising or "advertorial" features should be labelled as such.
   
   
5. To protect the brand, editors/producers should not permit their content to be used on an advertiser's site without an explanation of the relationship (e.g. "Reprinted with permission").
   
   
6. E-commerce commissions and other affiliate fees should be reported on a disclosure page, so users can see that the content is credible and free of commercial influence. Exact fees need not be mentioned, of course, but users who are concerned about underlying business relationships can be thus reassured. (See Conde Nast's statement at the bottom of the Epicurious home page [1] regarding its relationship with its featured merchants.)
   
   
7. Advertisers or e-commerce partners should not receive preferential treatment in search engines, price comparisons and other applications presented under the content provider's brand. An editorial site should not try to vouch for others' tools that it may offer.
   
   
8. A website should respect the privacy of its users. If a site intends to collect information about its visitors-whether the data will be disseminated to third parties or not-it must offer users a chance to decline if they choose, through an "opt-out" option. As part of its privacy policy, the site should explain its use of cookies and other data collection methods and tell what it intends to do with the information it gleans. Potential benefits to the user-broader site access, better personalization features, etc.-should be presented as well.