Russ Stanton on the Page One Ad: “Obviously, it was not my decision”

That was all the LA Times editor would say about Friday’s mock front page advertisement. But sources inside the paper told the New York Times that Stanton fought against the ad, to no avail. LAT journalists told the NYT that they were especially disturbed by the ad because it incorporated the paper’s masthead and prior articles. “People are worried about what it does with the brand, the paper’s name,” said one reporter.

LAT spokesman John Conroy said “It’s taking a concept that we normally apply to new media and reimagining it to a concept in a newspaper.” A nice way of saying they transformed the front page of the LA Times into a giant pop-up ad. Who knew innovation could be so annoying.

Previously on FBLA:
LA Times Sells Out Front Page

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