The Black and White Divide More like a Thin Grey Line

Abstract

The gap between newspaper advertising and editorial sections is narrowing. Whereas once newspaper editorial departments operated semi-independently of advertising, the divisions between these areas are no longer as clear as they once were. As the boundaries between news and advertising-driven information blur, journalistic independence and news sense are subsumed in favour of the commercial imperatives that increasingly threaten to overwhelm all sections of newspapers. Metropolitan and regional journalists in Australia are experiencing what could be the beginning of the end of editorial independence. The experiences of the regional journalists interviewed for this paper provide a timely warning about the threatened end of editorial independence and the increasing commercial pressures which journalists face.