WSJ Blurs Distinction Between News and Corporate Promos---Part II

(Part I is here.)

Art dealers and artists are not the only ones seeking clients at Art Basel Miami Beach. This affluent see-and-be-seen scene is also a potential goldmine for companies that offer financial services to high net worth individuals (i.e., megabuck collectors).

So UBS signed on as the main sponsor of that art fair, is hosting events there for clients and would-be clients and, in advance of the event, cranked out an eight-page newspaper supplement on "Perspectives on Contemporary Art," folded into last weekend's Wall Street Journal. This UBS corporate promotion, disguised as dispassionate analysis of the art market, was labeled a "Special Advertising Section," but its format and areas of coverage were so similar to those of the newspaper's weekend "Pursuits" section that it could have easily been perceived as a WSJ-generated report. Indeed, both "Pursuits" and the UBS insert ran simultaneous items on the hot market for contemporary art from India.

Instead of issuing a specific disclaimer that this fake journalism was not produced by the WSJ's editorial staff, the text at the bottom of each page emphasized a link between the two content-providers: "A Wall Street Journal marketing partnership with UBS."

Highlighting the art-related activities of UBS, the special section illustrated most of its articles (on such topics as "Contemporary Art Milestones," "Building a Collection" and "An Interview with Sean Scully") with art from the company's own collection. The most blatant business-seeking piece was the half-page allotted to "An Interview with Dr. Karl Schweizer, Managing Director, Head of Art Banking and Numismatics, UBS," who plugged the advice that his group gives to art-buying clients. Published at the end of that article was UBS's URL for more information on how to "contact a UBS Art Banking Advisor" and how to "Learn more about art and inheritance."

The UBS contemporary art website gets you the same content published in the print version, along with some additional features and a link at the top right corner of every web page, enabling you to find your very own UBS financial advisor.

The WSJ is far from the only publication to insult its own editorial integrity by running advertising promotions inadequately distinguished from journalistic content. The NY Times has also grappled with this issue, as discussed in a column last year, "Cracks in the Wall Between Advertising and News," by its Public Editor, Byron Calame (formerly of the WSJ):

There are almost always some advertisers interested in buying an ad designed to look like a news page, and their clout increases when demand is slow. The basic idea is to lure readers to an ad that seems at first glance to be just another news article.

The UBS insert masquerades as just another news section, notwithstanding its obligatory designation as a advertising. The WSJ has a strong and deserved reputation for an inviolable wall between journalistic coverage and advertising content. With the problematic "Perspectives on Contemporary Art," the integrity of that wall has been undermined.