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Ad resembling story appears on front of LA Times
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-04-10 09:54

LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Times has lent some credibility to the phrase that you can't believe everything you read in the newspaper - even if it's on Page One.

Ad resembling story appears on front of LA Times
Flags wave in the wind as the Tribune Co., publisher of the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times on December 8, 2008 in Chicago, Illinois. [Agencies]

The newspaper took the unusual step Thursday of running a front-page advertisement that resembles a news story.

The ad for the new NBC program "Southland" covers half the height of an entire column and appears on the lower half of the page, below the fold. It's labeled as an advertisement at the top but occupies space previously reserved for news. The text is adjacent to a graphical display ad for the show at the bottom of the page.

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University of Southern California journalism professor Bryce Nelson said it seemed to be the first time in recent history that an ad resembling a news story appeared on the front page of a major US newspaper - something once common in 19th-century newspapers.

"This kind of highly intrusive front-page ad has not been a feature of American journalism in recent decades," said Nelson, a former national correspondent for the Times.

Like most other newspapers, the Times is struggling as advertising revenues crater amid a deepening recession, exacerbating troubles that began with the migration of advertisers to free and low-cost alternatives online. The Times' owner, Tribune Co., filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in December.

The Times said the ad was designed to stretch traditional boundaries.

"The delivery of news and information is a rapidly changing business and the Los Angeles Times is continuously testing innovative approaches," a newspaper statement said. "That includes creating unique marketing opportunities for our advertising partners."

Times spokeswoman Nancy Sullivan declined to say how much the newspaper was paid. NBC Universal spokesman Cory Shields did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

Banner adds across the bottom of front pages have become common as struggling newspapers seek new revenue sources. The Los Angeles Times has had them before, just not accompanied by an ad resembling news story. Advertisements made to look like news copy are also common on inside pages of many newspapers.

The Times ad that runs below its daily Column One feature purports to be a first-person account of a ride-along with a rookie policeman.

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