When sponsored content mimics a business news section

Jessica Armbruster, Keith Harris, and Em Cassel of Racket looks at the new sponsored content section at the Minneapolis Star Tribune that mimics its business section.

Armbruster, Harris and Cassel write, “In a sales pitch/vertical introduction, Christensen says that after reading these stories, “I feel better about where I live. I feel prouder of where I live.”

“In the news biz, advertising is traditionally a neutral platform. But here representatives of the Star Tribune, including the publisher himself, are throwing their support behind paid sponsors. This isn’t just advertising, they say in essence. It’s a genuine public service to allow Xcel Energy to publish press releases on our site.

“You have to wonder, if these stories are so newsworthy on their own, why do companies have to pay the Strib to publish them?

“And the bigger question is how this differs from the Strib’s regular business coverage, which has often been far from adversarial to the companies it covers. Will it continue to print puff stories for free now that they’re for sale elsewhere on the site?”

Read more here.