Dirty Technologies for Respectable Publications

How a Russian partner of The Financial Times and The Wall Street Journal uses porn technologies

Photo: Dirty Technologies for Respectable Publications

Some Russian publications, which position themselves on the market of mass media as “business” and “respectable”, do not feel shy to use so-called porn technologies for their own promotion. They use advertising, the content of which targets the most primitive human feelings and can in no way be correlated with the editorial policy of this or that publication.

For example, on the main page of News.Mail.Ru project one can see ad banners of one of Russia’s “leading business publications,” the Vedomosti newspaper, which is published in association with The Financial Times and The Wall Street Journal. The headlines on the banners say things like: “The shag room and more fun (video). Never seen before!”

The Vedomosti has been accused of the use of the so-called porn technologies before too, Politonline.ru website said. In addition, many experts, bloggers, and other journalists have repeatedly criticized the materials of the newspaper for being biased and unreliable.

Here is a telling example. All Russian sociological services rejected the information presented in a series of articles about the declining rating of the Medvedev-Putin tandem and the sending of United Russia officials to Russia’s troubled AvtoVAZ car maker. Pieces of false “insider” information from the authorities, reports about the decisions of the Constitutional Court, which the court never made, etc, not to mention quite doubtful publications as “The Revenge for the Caucasus” or the attempts, which an observer of the Vedomosti made to justify the terrible terrorist acts in the Moscow metro.

It goes without saying that such deliberate or incidental provocations always raise immediate interest. However, they can only demonstrate either journalists’ unprofessionalism or their attitude to readers, since editors prefer not to apologize to them for their yet another mistake.

Needless to say that such mistakes cost a lot for a newspaper, which informs its potential readers and advertisers of its primary goal – to present the efficient, detailed and objective information. The same goes to the attempts to attract audience with the use of sensationalist headlines. Making a decision to place advertising in a “business publication”, spokespeople for restaurant, insurance or car business hopes to reach the audience of highly educated specialists with their income higher than the average, rather than students or the unemployed. They do not even think that “expert” media will market their economic and political forecasts with the use of such dirty tricks as sensationalist headlines and porn banners, Politonline.ru concludes.