Ad-worthy as well as news-worthy

Ad-worthy as well as news-worthy

The Bible says it best, "Lift up a standard for the people." ^{Isa. 62:10 .}

When yellow journalism was a problem in the United States, our Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, responded. The newspaper she founded raised a standard for the industry and continues to be in the vanguard as a powerful influence in setting standards for advertising as well as news reporting.

The advertising acceptance policies of The Christian Science Monitor, as well as its subsidiary publications and programs, are the most stringent of any general news publication anywhere in the world. Successive generations of workers have sought to maintain the highest standards of acceptance, while at the same time striving to attract quality advertisers to the paper. These standards are widely recognized by corporations and advertising agencies.

From the beginning in 1908, most of our readers have welcomed advertising in the pages of our paper. This was particularly true of the Monitor's founder, Mrs. Eddy.

At the same time, readers have occasionally written to question particular ads, just as they write to question editorial content. Such questioning is welcome and frequently beneficial. A great deal of thought is applied to issues of ad acceptance every day by people who are deeply committed to the mission of The Christian Science Monitor, and a great deal of advertising copy is rejected.

Advertisements to promote sales of alcoholic and caffeinated drinks, tobacco, medicinal products and treatments, gambling activities, as well as advertising copy that is simply suggestive or tasteless, are routinely rejected.

Today's advertising world makes a distinction between ads that promote sales and ads that identify corporate activity—a dimension discussed by the Manager of The Christian Science Publishing Society in the adjoining column.

More on the subject of ... advertising

Given the high standard set for advertising acceptance in Christian Science publishing, including specific exclusion of categories on which other publications rely heavily, we of course make every effort to attract advertising from corporations of high quality that are engaged in activities other than those listed in the Directors' statement. Among the categories that are most important for the support of our newspaper, magazine, and television programs are: financial services, airlines and travel, telecommunications, energy, and automotive manufacturers.

These categories include some of the largest corporations in the United States and abroad. In today's corporate environment, they are often engaged in highly diversified activities. For example, companies whose primary identity is in food products may also be involved in alcoholic beverage sales; and many companies have some involvement in medical products and services, both for business and what they regard as the highest humanitarian reasons. Their advertising campaigns, especially those dealing with corporate identity rather than specific brand sales, normally describe the full range of their activities.

We work closely and frequently with corporate advertisers and their agencies to review copy so that it will serve their interests most effectively and meet our standards. This requires a great deal of wisdom, calm, and patience in effectively representing The Mother Church and the Monitor to large organizations who are spending vast sums in a very serious effort to place their most effective message before the public and who have carefully selected us as an important medium to reach the public. (In fact, it usually requires a number of calls by our salespeople on corporate officials and advertising agency executives before this happens.)

In the case of corporate advertising whose main purpose is to describe the activities and purposes of the company and not specifically to sell a retail product or service, we try as much as possible to accommodate, as a matter of reader interest, the description of their major corporate activities. We would certainly do this in our editorial columns when reporting on a business; and interestingly, our readers easily accept editorial coverage of all types of corporate activities—even though, unlike advertising, this is our direct responsibility and not a paid message of an advertiser. Most of our readers want to be informed about the activities of major businesses, and we try to accommodate the needs of the reader and the advertiser within the very strict bounds of our overall acceptance policies.

All of us who are dedicated to the work of The Christian Science Monitor need to be grateful to the major corporations and their agencies who regard the Monitor, in all its forms, as a viable forum in which to address the public. Since the late 1950s, the Monitor, like other newspapers, has faced increasing difficulty in attracting national advertisers. Unlike metropolitan newspapers, it has not had local retail and classified advertising to fall back on.

The new award-winning design of the paper, and the availability of our newspaper and magazine pages in combination, have once again begun to attract major national advertisers, whose financial contribution and public recognition are important to the Monitor's mission.

Our interests are not in conflict with our advertisers, nor is major corporate advertising an intrusion into the columns of our paper. Our expectation is that readers, especially those who are Christian Scientists, will read advertising pages with the same open mind that they apply to news and feature columns. A lively appreciation not only of the advertiser but also of the men and women who work so diligently, every day, overcoming many obstacles, to present our newspaper and its purpose to the corporate world, does much to stimulate acceptance and awareness of The Christian Science Monitor.

Manager The Christian Science Publishing Society