Philly biz editor explains sponsorship experience

By Kevin Noblet

The Associated Press

(Editor's Note: SABEW board member Kevin Noblet covered the session on the Philadelphia Inquirer's sponsorship of its business section by a local bank at the fall SABEW conference held Oct. 20-21.)

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- If it was a grilling, it was a warm one, not a hot one: Tony Gnoffo encountered lots of sympathy from his peers at SABEW’s fall conference.

The Philadelphia Inquirer business editor was on the spot to explain how and why the paper sold sponsorship of a new column and exclusive section-front advertising space to Citizens Bank. He took a lot of questions, certainly, about the effect the deal could have on the credibility of the Inquirer’s business news report. But there were understanding nods and sighs when he explained that the $2 million the bank is paying over two years is “an opportunity to get another staffer. I guess you could call it a bribe.”

Many of those in the room were business editors and reporters from other news outlets hit by their own staff cuts.

Gnoffo acknowledged the potential for readers to interpret sponsorship of the column, which was launched at the end of April, as a co-opting of the paper by a corporate interest. “Only time will tell,” he said.

“The only thing I can do is keep this space populated with real news,” he said, so that over time readers will come to see that there is no bias. A collection of brief reports of mostly local interest, “it’s not going to be a friendly, rah-rah kind of column.”

Getting contributions to the column from his own staff sometimes is a challenge, he admitted, because many of them aren’t happy about the ad deal. “They’ve dug in, and they don’t like it.”

Gnoffo insisted the arrangement hasn’t affected the Inquirer’s reporting, and showed examples of critical coverage of Citizens Bank, including a prominent article about income the CEO collects from serving on other company’s boards. He got no complaints about the story, from the bank or the paper’s ad department, he said. In fact he heard nothing at all.

One question asked was if other local companies saw the relationship as cozy, and were denying the Inquirer’s reporters stories. Gnoffo’s dry reply: “I’ve perceived no reduction in the inflow of PR pitches.”

Posted Oct. 31, 2007