The Articles That You See on Top Tier Publication Are Real Or Paid?

Media, whether digital or print, has significant influence over its audience. It won’t be far-fetched to say that media literally controls the public’s opinion. This massive influence makes it the publications’ duty to ensure that they share genuine and unbiased information. However, the reality is much murkier than we prefer.

There were times when a brand or a product had to be extraordinary to get featured in one of the top publications. There were strict guidelines that needed to be followed, and the content had to go through strict scrutiny before getting published. But the fast pace at which the world is running has made things much simpler now, letting them operate in the grey. Also, the PR professionals have found a way to flirt with the publications’ guidelines, making a lot of money in the process.

How real are the articles on the top-tier publications?

The majority of the readers go to the top-tier publications for news, trivia, and all sort of information because they rely on the content’s authenticity. There is hardly anyone that gives a thought about the source of information. But there are various tricks that these PR professionals are turning on these publications.

● Mentions in the articles
According to numerous reporters, they have been approached by various so-called PR professionals with some business prospects. These business prospects are the offers that will let them earn a small fortune in terms of money. And in lieu of this small fortune, all they have to do is mention their clients in their following articles.

This is worth noting that there are hardly any top-tier publications that have been spared from this new system.

● Paid Promotions

Numerous top-tier publications have started publishing paid content on their websites. Yes, these articles do mention somewhere about the paid nature of the content, but these mentions are generally hidden or hard to find. This prevents the readers from finding the content’s true nature and keeps them in the dark.

● Personal Bias

Most of the top-tier publications guarantee unbiased opinions. But whether that guarantee is any good or not, this is far from our comprehension. There are times when publications are aligned towards particular agendas, brands, and even individuals at times.

What are the fail-safes being adopted by these publications to curb this challenge?

Most of the top-tier publications are adopting strict measures to curb this menace. They have a zero-tolerance policy towards these underhand practices. If someone reports or the content is flagged, it is instantly taken down. Additionally, some publications conduct a comprehensive audit of the entire content published by the writer and take it down if needed. There have been numerous instances evolving some famous names in the industry.

Disclaimers such as ‘the views in this article are of the writer alone, and ‘this is a paid post’ are also being adopted as an effective means of tackling this challenge. While the effectiveness of these disclaimers is still unclear, it is one step further towards the unbiasedness of the publications.

Also, many online publications have started sponsored stories section which openly takes paid and promotion articles. By doing so, they are legitimating such content. This strategy might be what is needed to get this trend under control.

Should you believe in everything you read?

In a nutshell, the amount of information available is immense. However, most of it is noise. But segregating the noise from the real information and the unpaid stories from the paid ones is more challenging than one can imagine. It is sort of impossible. All you can do is notice the content you read very closely and verify the facts before you take action based on the information offered anywhere.