The crumbling wall between the “business” and “editorial” sides of media, which has helped credibility in media to plummet from 69% in 1974 to 21% last year, (Gallup) is the topic of a New York Daily News panel Wednesday at 6 p.m.

panelEditor-in-chief Jim Rich, who joined the paper in 2004 from the New York Post where he was deputy night sports editor, will be on a panel with Priya Ganapati, director of platform products, Quartz, and Kate Ward, editor-in-chief of Bustle. Jay Rosen, professor of journalism, New York University, is moderator.

Reservations are required for the panel which is at 11 Times Square.

Quartz is a digital global news medium owned by Atlantic Media Co., publisher of The Atlantic, National Journal, and Government Executive. It has 175 staffers who cover business topics worldwide.

“Americans with a great/fair amount of trust in media” is a current chart on Quartz showing that it fell from 70% in 2005 among Democrats to 52% currently, and among Republicans, from 53% in 1998 to 12% currently. The average is around 30%.

Bustle, founded in 2013 by Bryan Goldberg, co-founder of Bleacher Report, reaches an estimated 40 million women monthly. It was described as “hugely successful” by Slate.

labThe Daily News, in announcing the panel, said “As media companies increase their focus on business models, economic realities are affecting the way journalists work. Instead of a ‘strict separation’ between the business and editorial sides, journalists are being asked how they create value for the company that can be monetized, while still meeting their responsibilities to public service and truth telling.”

NYT Pushes “Sponsored Content”

“In Media Company Advertising, Sponsored Content is Becoming King,” said a headline in the July 25 New York Times. The paper said publications large and small “have invested in teams to make sponsored content—written stories, videos or podcasts that look and feel like journalistic content—hoping to make up for declines in conventional ads.”

It noted The Atlantic gets three-quarters of its ad revenues from sponsored content. Hearst is “rolling out its native digital ad product to all 84 of its markets. It says it is buoyed by the success it has had with its “shared spaces” product that lets advertisers inhabit the same area as editorial content.

An O’Dwyer website poll on branded media resulted in 52% of respondents saying it is a “necessary evil,” 29% saying it is “a great PR practice,” and 19% saying it is “unethical.”

Oliver Rips “Branded” as Suicidal

Comedian John Oliver, on his HBO Dec. 4, 2013 show, said the practice is a threat to the editorial independence of newsrooms, tends to mislead readers, and erodes trust. HBO does not take ads.

“Ads are baked into content like chocolate chips into a cookie,” he said in an 11-minute segment, adding, “Except it’s more like raisins into a cookie—because nobody f---ing wants them there.”

He compared the mingling of news and ads to dipping Twizzlers in guacamole, calling it “really gross,” and compared the results to botched heart surgery. Highlighted was the Scientology sponsored article that appeared on The Atlantic’s website in January 2013. The magazine pulled the article, which lauded the church and claimed a huge growth rate, “after an outcry.”

New York mag’s July 25-Aug. 7 issue has a cover story on “The Case Against the Media by the Media."

The 14-page article quotes 30 journalists on journalism’s problems but there is no mention of branded advertising as one of the reasons for the decline in the credibility of media.

Cellphone Warnings Debated in Calif.

The Berkeley, Calif., “right-to-know” law, passed in May 2015 and requiring retailers to warn cellphone customers against wearing or using the devices next to their bodies, was argued in a federal appeals court in San Francisco Sept. 13.

Questions and remarks by the three judges indicated to those who advocate the safe use of cellphones and computers that the judges are leaning to reinstating a preliminary injunction that would temporarily block implementation of the law.

Judge Michelle Friedland said, “It seems there is a real downside to having unsupported warnings all over the place.”

Judge William Fletcher said, “I read that message to say, ‘Uh-oh, I’m in trouble if I put it in my pocket. I may not be in trouble at all.”

Judge Morgan Christian said “the strongest argument” of CTIA-The Wireless Assn., previously called the Cellular Telephone Industries Assn., “is that people are going to be misled.”

FCC Standards Said to Be Adequate

tom wheelerThe Federal Communications Commission standards for cellphone emission provide an “enormous safety margin” and FCC has never said that wearing a cellphone close to the body is unsafe, said CTIA attorney Theodore Olson.

He said the warning is misleading and violates the free speech rights of retailers, according to a report in the Berkeley Daily Planet. “It presents an alarming point of view intended to change consumers’ behavior,” he told the court. It is also “contrary to science,” he said.

Judge Fletcher noted that harmful non-thermal affects of cellphones have been shown.

Harvard Law Professor Lawrence Lessig, representing Berkeley, said the message is accurate and provides information that consumers need to know about their cellphones. The law just repeats what the FCC is saying about cellphones, he said.

The hearing, before the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, lasted 45 minutes. No deadline has been set for a ruling on the issue.

The cellphone industry heard FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler (pictured) call for rapid deployment of new “5G” technology at the CTIA “Super Mobility” conference in Las Vegas Sept. 7.

Wheeler, for 12 years CTIA president, said 5G “is not a technology, it is a revolution.” He called for a “light-touch regulatory approach.” He wants ample spectrum availability which will foster competitive infrastructure provision, especially for backhaul for Internet of Things micro-cells and “to remove unnecessary hurdles tro [antenna] siting.

“Backhaul” refers to links between core networks and small subnetworks.

A preliminary injunction against the law was issued by a Federal District Court last September pending removal of the sentence, “This potential risk is greater for children.” The injunction was lifted after that sentence was removed.

CTIA's slogan is "Everything Wireless." Its website notes the industry spent $166 billion on cell towers and networks from 2009-14. There are currently 594,304 cell towers in the U.S., many of them in residential districts, according to thekillzones.com, which says they are a major health hazard.

The Assn. of National Advertisers on March 7 joined CTIA in seeking to block the law that forces disclosure of possible radiation hazards to users.

Those who buy or lease phones would be told: “To assure safety, the Federal Government requires that cellphones meet radio frequency (RF) exposure guidelines. If you carry or use your phone in a pants or shirt pocket or tucked into a bra when the phone is ON and connected to a wireless network, you may exceed the federal guidelines for exposure to RF radiation.”

The ANA says Berkeley should buy broadcast air time or public service announcements about the warning and put posters on city buses and rail cars and use outdoor ads near cellphone stores to get the message across.

“Why It’s Not Time to Panic about Cellphones and Cancer” was a headline on a story in the May 31, 2016 New York Times. It noted that a study finding a link between cellphone radiation and cancer in rats could be interpreted in several different ways and said more research is needed before conclusions can be made.