Advertising and editorials are easily confused. When a business accepts advertisements, it’s not rendering a judgment on the content of the ad—beyond any sort of visual or content standard that may not concur with the overall quality of the business—it is simply setting aside a portion of its available medium in exchange for a monetary contribution.

In the Sept. 30, 2009 edition, the Student Voice ran an advertisement for Mary Jane’s Bud medical marijuana deliveries. The advertisement was not solicited and was brought to the attention of the editorial staff by Mary Jane’s proprietor. Due to the controversial nature of the advertisement, a vote was taken by the editorial board on whether or not to run the advertisement. The editors voted unanimously to run the advertisement.

Following the newspaper’s publication, the Student Voice received numerous e-mails from readers who were concerned about the possible effects such an ad may have on the public. Many of these parties seemed to believe that by running an advertisement for a medical marijuana delivery service, the Student Voice was endorsing the use of medical marijuana.

Such a claim could not be further from the truth. Regardless of the staff’s individual beliefs, the decision to run any advertisement is never a claim of endorsement of the advertiser’s agenda. While the ads are always proofed for design and grammar, so as not to appear contradictory to the overall quality of the newspaper’s content, the content of the advertisement is decided by the advertiser.

The separation of editorial content from advertising is so integral to the basic tenant of journalism that a specific section of the Student Voice’s own policy manual is devoted to the issue.

According to the Student Voice policy manual, “advertisements and advertisers shall not influence Student Voice policy.”

One needs only to look in any of the numerous, high-profile publications that frequent the current marketplace to see the implementation of such a policy. When advertisements are formatted in a fashion that readers may confuse them with editorial content, whether it is a news-style layout, or non-traditional advertising language, the ad is clearly identified as an advertisement. For more traditional ads, the clear identification is foregone, in the assumption that the reader will not confuse an advertiser’s intent with that of the publication.

“Belief is based on perception,” said Ken Drake, advertising professor at Moorpark College. “If people have a perception of a media they may believe that since they inserted the ad, they approve of the ad’s contents.”

Advertising revenue is crucial to any publication, but it is especially necessary for a college publication. Regardless of content, the availability of advertisers is dwindling. In the current economic climate, it’s up to the staff of the Student Voice to obtain funding from advertisers.

Even so, any controversial advertisement will always be approved by the editorial staff before publication, as more important than the continued funding of the Student Voice, is the continued high standard of the service provided to the district.