Science News will “plan to try to watch out” for any possible appearances of blurred lines between its advertising and news content “to avoid any appearance of connection that does not exist.” This vow comes after the Aug. 25 issue of Science News placed a book review with an advertisement for the same book in a two-page spread, the magazine’s Departments Editor Erika Engelhaupt told iMediaEthics by email.
Science News identifies itself as a “biweekly news magazine” on “all fields of science.”
We asked Science News about the ad, for the book 101 American Geo-Sites You’ve Gotta See, being paired on the opposite page of an ad for the book this week. Engelhaupt, who said she edits the page in question, explained:
“We do have a separate staff for advertising and editorial, and there was no coordination on the book highlight that you mentioned. I do not know in advance if a particular book will be advertised in the magazine, and I don’t see the ads in the magazine until the final production stages if at all. I make decisions about which books to review independently of the advertisements, and any co-occurrence of a review and an ad is coincidental.”
Check out the two-page spread in question.
UPDATE: 9/21/2012: 12:54 PM EST: See below a detail of the two-page spread.
The Aug. 25 issue of Science News had an ad and a review for the same book on opposite pages. (Credit: Science News, yellow highlight added)