This trend of companies publicly articulating policies to pull all ads from any publication that publishes negative pieces on them is really quite scary. Fact is, we don't have a free press, we have a press that relies on the goodwill and involvement of advertisers. So long as they're dependent on an income source that wants to influence they're coverage, they're not free in any recognizable sense of the word. That said, they've generally been able to keep their advertising departments separate from their editorial sections, and their sponsors have accepted it. Apparently, the advertisers are changing their minds on that front, and if the trend continues, I'm not sure how much of the publishing industry will survive. Maybe future newspapers really will be online-only for the sole reason that the dirt-cheap production costs allow them to survive with radically reduced revenue streams.
Ah well. As Matt said the other day, I trust we can expect a flurry of bad press for Morgan Stanley and BP? I'll start: Fuck Morgan Stanley and BP. Sucky companies both.
