Press Council: Advertising and editorial section insufficiently separated
The Swiss Press Council has upheld a complaint filed by the Associazione Ticinese dei Giornalisti, a chapter of the journalists’ association Impressum, against the Corriere del Ticino. The newspaper had printed a cigarette advertisement in the middle of an editorial page without clearly distinguishing the advertisement visually and/or conceptually.
In March 2010, Corriere del Ticino published a circular colored cigarette advertisement ("Where friendship happens") with a diameter of approximately 15 centimeters in the middle of an editorial page. The Associazione Ticinese dei Giornalisi complained to the Press Council about the violation of the requirement to separate the editorial section from the advertising.
The plenum of the Press Council considers this requirement to have been violated in the specific case. It is true that the cigarette advertisement is recognizable to the readership on closer inspection even without additional conceptual labeling or visual demarcation. However, due to the unusual placement of the advertisement in the middle of editorial articles, readers would be misled, at least at first glance, since the eye would almost inevitably fall on the advertisement when opening the page. Such "text field ads" tend to counteract the separation of editorial and commercial content. All the more reason to demand clear conceptual and/or visual identification.
