The London Evening Standard has found itself surrounded by controversy after it was revealed that the paper sold “favorable news coverage” to six major companies, including Uber and Google, in exchange for £3 million, or just over 4 million U.S. dollars.
According to an official report that was published late last month, the Evening Standard informed their corporate partners that they would be getting news and opinion articles written about them “that will appear to readers as routine, independently written editorial,” as opposed to the usual “advertorial” content. The deal was allegedly part of an upcoming campaign called London 2020.
John O’Donnell, managing director at ESI commercial, said in a statement that the notion that the Evening Standard was “selling news” was “grossly inaccurate and a wildly misunderstood interpretation of the London 2020 project.”
O’Donnell went on to say that the paper’s integrity remained “paramount,” adding that “under no circumstances have these clients been guaranteed news coverage for their own ends, nor would they ever be. Properly signposted commercial content within an editorial product is an accepted part of the news industry and is nothing new for publishers.”
He added, “The Evening Standard has a long history in producing important and award-winning campaigns, and we are excited about the prospects that London 2020 will bring to the brand, it’s partners and the people of London.”
Integrity paramount?
Despite O’Donnell’s denial of any wrongdoing and his steadfast optimism about the London 2020 campaign, this is still a significant scandal if the allegations are indeed true. Not only would the Evening Standard be in the wrong for selling favorable news coverage to prominent companies, but the companies themselves would also be in the wrong for signing onto the deal. At least one of these companies – Google – has found itself at the center of controversy more times than most people can count.