Seattle Times defends McKenna ad campaign

The Seattle Times is coming under fire from some journalism and political experts for launching an advertising campaign backing Republican gubernatorial candidate Rob McKenna and Referendum 74 to legalize same-sex marriage.

The $80,000 campaign kicked off Wednesday with a full page ad in support of McKenna, praising him as “an easy way to end the gridlock that threatens to cripple state government.”

In an interview with KIRO Radio’s Ross and Burbank, Alan Fisco, executive vice president of revenue and new products for The Seattle Times, says the pilot project is aimed at showing the power of newspaper advertising and generating new revenue for the newspaper.

“In recent years political campaigns have spent tens of millions of dollars in our state alone and virtually all in broadcast and direct mail, very little in newspapers,” he says.

Fisco says the Times wanted to feature high profile statewide races that were close in the polls. The Seattle Times editorial board previously endorsed both McKenna and R-74 and he says that played a part in the decision.

But there’s plenty of criticism that the effort undermines the paper’s journalistic credibility.

“Regular people have trouble believing there is a wall between the editorial side of news, and the reporting side. This would seem to make that even more difficult,” Todd Donovan, political science professor at Western Washington University, told the Times.

“However the Times rationalizes this, they are using the resources of the paper to promote a candidate and cause preferred by the editorial side (and, it would seem, ownership). Fair or not to you folks on the reporting side, my sense is the public perception of the Times’ credibility and objectivity takes a big hit here,” he said.

Fisco says the effort was done completely independent from the newspaper’s editorial side.

“They had no knowledge that we were considering it. They were not involved at all and haven’t been involved at all.”

But Fisco admits he’s heard concern from some reporters worried about compromising their journalistic integrity.

He says the effort is a one time experiment, and the paper will know the campaign was effective if political strategists spend more on print advertising in the future.

“We’re really trying to show the power of print, the power of going beyond just the soundbite that you get in the broadcast and to tap into new revenue streams for us.”

Ross and Burbank producer Andrew Walsh says he’s conflicted about the campaign. While he understands the business realities, he admits he’s uncomfortable that the effort could compromise the integrity of the paper.

“I want to see a vibrant future for journalism. I believe print journalism in many cases drives the journalism of a community because they traditionally have the resources to go deep,” Walsh says. “But I’m not totally comfortable with it.”

Dave Ross has a different take.

“I look at this and I say this blasts the whole notion of the liberal mainstream media completely out of the water,” he says of the campaign in support of Republican McKenna.

“I think it also underscores why it would be important to be a two newspaper town,” Walsh says. “I miss the P-I more than ever today.”