New technology fuses advertising and the news

From The New York Times: The New York Post’s business articles on Wednesday featured IntelliTXT, a Vibrant Media product that reveals an ad each time a mouse cursor passes over a keyword highlighted in green. This ensures that a Web page is supplied with contextually relevant advertising. Journalists argue, however, that decoration of the printed word throughout a news story for a promotional end “could create the impression that advertising shaped the reporting.” Aly Colon, ethics teacher at Poynter Institute, said journalists’ integrity relies on their work being presented in such a way that clarifies their position as “first and foremost about the news.” The Post’s use of IntelliTXT was conducted only as a test, said spokesman Howard Rubenstein. Forbes.com limited its use of the product to non-news areas in December after its reporters expressed “unease” over the new technology.