Don't confuse the line between advertisement and the news

Frontiersman editorial board

Advertisements that depict salaries of school teachers and administrators in the Mat-Su School District have appeared in recent editions of the Frontiersman. The advertisements list, by name, the 20 highest paid teachers and administrators. The information in those ads is in the public domain, and it is not libelous. The advertiser has the right to purchase an advertisement and print the information.

This provides an opportunity to discuss the difference between advertising copy and editorial copy. Editorial copy, which includes all of the news articles, features, sports articles, opinion pieces and other written and graphic material produced by reporters and editorial staff, is guided by journalistic principals of ethics, accuracy, timeliness and balance. Editorials, like this one, represent the opinion of the Frontiersman, and columns, like "Being Frank," "Resslin' Around" and "J's World" depict the opinion of the author.

Advertising is purchased for any number of reasons, and it is not subject to the same level of scrutiny that guides editorial copy. Advertising can be powerful, and the difference in standards can lead to some interesting conclusions. We'll use the example of the recent salary advertisements to make some comparisons.

The Frontiersman has run many articles pertaining to salaries and other budget issues. In most circumstances, however, the newspaper would likely list positions and their corresponding pay rates, instead of individual names. When considering budgetary issues, the important thing is the system that results in budget decisions, not the people who either benefit or suffer from those decisions.

The advertisements also listed some comparative information, such as the median salary for teachers and school administrators nationwide. Were the newspaper to produce a comparative article, it would be critical to compare the same statistics -- if we were listing the national averages, we would compare them to the district averages, not to the highest-paid 20 individuals. The latter is a faulty comparison.

Lastly, we feel it is important to draw a more accurate picture by comparing our district to others that are similar. That's difficult to do on a national level, since Alaska school districts are funded very differently than almost any other district in the country.

The most important lesson here is that readers should be willing to do their own research in all cases. Neither editorial copy nor advertising should be any readers sole source when forming important opinions. We encourage our readers to question both sources, and let us know when you think you've found a discrepancy.