Reference no: EM133284484

Assignment - Discussion Question

Think about the different roles and responsibilities of magazine departments as discussed in the textbook. Imagine you're a magazine editor. Your magazine just published a well-researched article on the potentially dangerous side effects of a new diet drug. The article is one of a series of three articles you are planning on the hazards of diet drugs.

The manufacturer of the drug, who is also an advertiser who buys a significant amount of advertising in your publication for its many products, calls and says, "Don't ever run an article like that again." The advertiser (the drug manufacturer who you wrote about in the article) threatens to pull their advertising and not buy advertising from your magazine in the future.

Think about the relationship between editorial content and advertisements in magazines, and how magazines deal with the desire for editorial independence (publish what they want to) with the need for advertising revenue. You, as the editor, must decide what to do. Please complete the following questions.

1. What are the potential impacts and consequences if you do not run the other articles (The articles might contain important health information for your readers) and you keep the advertiser?

2. What are the potential impacts and consequences if you do publish the other articles? (The drug manufacturer, who is an important advertiser in your magazine, might stop buying ads from you. What if this causes your magazine financial trouble - like cutting jobs or even going bankrupt? )

3. After outlining the consequences of both sides, please answer -- what would you do as the editor? Why? What would your editorial policy be for handling tough situations like this?