March 4, 2010 | Read Time: 2 minutes
The Huffington Post’s philanthropy reporting is under fire for working with a fund-raising company to produce content, a relationship some journalism experts fear might cause ethical problems.
In October, the online newspaper started Impact, a section dedicated to promoting charitable causes and issues. But while the reporting carries the Huffington Post name, the content is produced by CauseCast, a company that helps charities raise money. The two organizations share advertising revenue raised by Impact.
The Nieman Journalism Lab, a blog of Harvard University’s Neiman Foundation, first raised questions about the relationship. While noting that publishers are desperately looking for new revenue models, the Huffington Post partnership is troubling, writes Laura McGann, an assistant editor with Neiman.
“By blurring the line between advertising and content, it also raises questions about conflicts of interest and editorial responsibility,” she says.
Ms. McGann points out a few times that Impact articles have promoted the work of CauseCast clients without disclosing the relationship.
CauseCast told Ms. McGann its nonprofit clients do not get priority in Huffington Post articles. On Business Insider, an online business newspaper, a Huffington Post spokesman defended Impact.
“The editorial process for Impact is the same as the one for all of HuffPost’s verticals, with the section’s editors overseen and guided by senior HuffPost editors,” Mario Ruiz, vice president of media relations for the company, said in an e-mail message.
And to be sure, a Web site often compared with the Huffington Post, the Daily Beast, has a somewhat similar relationship with a company.
The Daily Beast’s nonprofit section works with the Global Philanthropy Group, a donor consulting service.
Trevor Neilson, president of the Global Philanthropy Group, says the company does not write articles for the Giving Beast. It helped concieve of the site and occasionally suggests stories the online publication can suggest are worth reading.
What do you think of the relationships? Do you think it matters to donors and nonprofit groups?
