{"id":456,"date":"2017-11-21T16:37:05","date_gmt":"2017-11-21T16:37:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-ecc-collegecomposition\/?post_type=chapter&p=456"},"modified":"2017-11-30T17:13:54","modified_gmt":"2017-11-30T17:13:54","slug":"identifying-sponsored-content","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-ecc-collegecomposition\/chapter\/identifying-sponsored-content\/","title":{"raw":"Identifying Sponsored Content","rendered":"Identifying Sponsored Content"},"content":{"raw":"Our warning to \u201cgo upstream\u201d before evaluating claims\u00a0is particularly important with sponsored content. For instance, a lot of time on a site you\u2019ll see \u201cheadlines\u201d like these, which I pulled from a highly regarded technology magazine:\r\n\r\n\"A\r\n\r\nLook at the headline in the upper left corner. Are lawmakers really concerned about this insane military scope? Maybe. But note that Network World<\/em> is not making this claim. Instead, the ZeroTac Tactical Scope company is making the claim. \u00a0It\u2019s an ad, served from another site into this page in a way that makes it look like a story.\r\n\r\n\"An\r\n\r\nSponsored content isn\u2019t always purely an advertisement. Sometimes it provides helpful information. This piece below, for example, is an in-depth look at some current industry trends in information technology.\r\n\r\n\"An\r\n\r\nThe source of this article is not InfoWorld<\/em>, but the technology company Hewlett Packard, and the piece is written by a VP of Hewlett Packard, with no InfoWorld<\/em> oversight. (Keep an eye out on the web for articles that have a \u201cSponsored\u201d indicator above or below them -- they are more numerous than you might think!)\r\n\r\nYou can see how this is not just an issue with political news, but will be an issue in your professional life as well. If you go to work in a technology field and portray this article to your boss as \u201csomething I read on InfoWorld<\/em>\u201d, you\u2019re doing a grave disservice to your company. Portraying a vendor-biased take as a neutral InfoWorld<\/em> take is a mistake you might come to regret.","rendered":"

Our warning to \u201cgo upstream\u201d before evaluating claims\u00a0is particularly important with sponsored content. For instance, a lot of time on a site you\u2019ll see \u201cheadlines\u201d like these, which I pulled from a highly regarded technology magazine:<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Look at the headline in the upper left corner. Are lawmakers really concerned about this insane military scope? Maybe. But note that Network World<\/em> is not making this claim. Instead, the ZeroTac Tactical Scope company is making the claim. \u00a0It\u2019s an ad, served from another site into this page in a way that makes it look like a story.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

Sponsored content isn\u2019t always purely an advertisement. Sometimes it provides helpful information. This piece below, for example, is an in-depth look at some current industry trends in information technology.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

The source of this article is not InfoWorld<\/em>, but the technology company Hewlett Packard, and the piece is written by a VP of Hewlett Packard, with no InfoWorld<\/em> oversight. (Keep an eye out on the web for articles that have a \u201cSponsored\u201d indicator above or below them — they are more numerous than you might think!)<\/p>\n

You can see how this is not just an issue with political news, but will be an issue in your professional life as well. If you go to work in a technology field and portray this article to your boss as \u201csomething I read on InfoWorld<\/em>\u201d, you\u2019re doing a grave disservice to your company. Portraying a vendor-biased take as a neutral InfoWorld<\/em> take is a mistake you might come to regret.<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t

Candela Citations<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
CC licensed content, Shared previously<\/div>