On February 21st, mediabistro.com partnered with the Magazine Publishers Association to throw our first-ever cocktail party for advertising sales professionals. It was a lively event: ad sales folks are used to entertaining clients, so they enjoyed the chance to be entertained by us.

We polled a number of our guests on the expanding role of advertising in the media. We asked, "In your experience, what is the relationship between editorial and advertising departments, and how has it changed over the last five years?"

(Also, check out our Question of the Week, where our members speak up on this topic. )

There are different types of packages being put together. The closeness of the relationship depends on whether you're talking about print or interactive media-in the interactive world there's more and more contextual selling happening, and the editorial staff at online companies are becoming more adapted to it. Because of the competition, I think that online editors are more willing to do advertorials and promote their partners. There's a strong resistance to that type of selling in print media.

Ryan Osmond, Business Relations Manager, HNW Digital. (HNW Digital provides digital marketing and media solutions to client companies focused on targeting high-net-worth individuals)

The relationship between editorial and advertising has been at times adversarial, but it's now become more team-oriented. Growing competition has made both sides realize that one hand washes the other. In my field, music publishing, there are a lot of books out there, and they're all competing for the same advertisers. We need to develop innovative ways to reach our readers and differentiate ourselves from the pack. Advertising does not compromise editorial integrity if the efforts enhance the reader's experience and fit the editorial mission.

Jason Perl, Advertising Director, Cherry Lane Magazines. (Cherry Lane publishes Guitar One, Home Recording, Music Alive and Music Express)

At Bust, the editorial people just recently stopped selling ads themselves, so it's a different situation than at some of the more established publications. But I am seeing the advertorial appearing more and more frequently across the magazine industry. This is especially prevalent with clothing brands: the clothes featured in a fashion shoot are made by designers who advertise frequently. That doesn't happen as much at Bust; unfortunately for me as an ad sales guy, the relationship between church and state is still sacrosanct there. Before Bust, I worked at The Onion, another publication that was wary of making big concessions to advertisers. But I am definitely seeing a change in the industry at large.

Jeff Canzona, Account Manager, Bust magazine, a Razorfish Studios company

I'm not the best person to answer your question, since the editorial and advertising departments have had a mutually respectful relationship at National Geographic Traveler for years. I know that there are some publishing companies out there where editorial and advertising are church and state. But both areas need to understand the value of what the other does and be willing to effectively communicate so we both will benefit.

Teresa Hauder, National Geographic Traveler

I think the relationship is becoming more synergistic; it used to be more polar. The walls are coming down. Advertising managers and editors have to work together more closely. Being receptive to advertisers doesn't compromise editorial integrity if you don't let it. Most of my clients haven't needed to worry about that.

Joy Baldridge, President, Baldridge Seminars International. (Baldridge Seminars provides sales and motivational speaking, in-house training, consulting and coaching.)

The days of pure "separation of church and state" are gone, at least in trade publications. The challenge though, is to strike the balance between editoral integrity and the need to increase revenues. In the trade world, advertisers are demanding more now than they ever have. For controlled circulation magazines that exist solely because of ad revenue, it's not getting any easier. The advertisers are now conditioned to squeeze publications for every ounce of edit and every dollar discount on advertising possible.

Peter McQuaid, Publisher of Golf Retailer magazine (title closed Feb 2001)

The relationship between editorial and advertising departments has changed dramatically--in essence the "wall" has disappeared. Editors now realize that magazines are a business that needs to make money, and in order to be successful there must be intelligent dialogue between the two camps. But that does not mean that editorial integrity should be compromised in any way. It's up to the editors to determine what the contents of the magazine will be and how--if appropriate and necessary--to address topics that provide the editorial synergy advertisers always want.

Martin S. Walker, Chairman, Walker Communications, magazine consulting company

Behold, our Question of the Week, where our members speak up on this topic.