Cygnus becomes a sinner

Whenever I think that B2B media has turned a corner and committed itself to the highest standards of journalism, something happens to remind me of why so many people look down their noses at trade publishers.
A reader of this blog sent an email to tell me that Cygnus, a former client of mine, has begun inserting ads in the editorial -- the exact same offensive practice that Ziff Davis and CMP recently abandoned.

If you want to see the ads, take a look at this article or this one.
If you have any doubts that this practice violates the ethics guidelines of our industry, please take a look at this earlier post in which I praise ASBPE for issuing a clear and definitive statement saying that such ads are inappropriate.

And if you have any doubts about where the bending of editorial rules can lead -- if you have any curiosity about what the bottom of the B2B ethics barrel looks like, then check out the Nuclear Power Journal, where news releases are run for a fee. Click on the media kit and read about "editorial participation."

tags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines, newsletters, business media, journalism ethics, advertising