Advertisers Influencing Editorials?

OFF THE WIRE
We have been hearing more and more about editors getting pressure from their advertisers over editorial content.
Note Robin's comment below: a potentially unethical relationship between advertising dollars and editorial content.
ROGUE

THIS From BIKERNET!

Leaked docs show Motorcyclist caved to advertiser pressure, fired editor-- A series of email exchanges published earlier today by MC24, appear to indicate that Motorcyclist fired Dexter Ford, a contributing editor who had been with the magazine for three decades, after a story he wrote for The New York Times angered the magazine's advertisers.
The emails, which Ford confirmed for us are the real thing, include an apparent assertion by Motorcyclist editor-in-chief Brian Catterson that major helmet makers threatened to withdraw advertising in his magazine due to Ford's New York Times piece. That same email then quotes Catterson as saying, "I'm getting serious heat over this, to the tune of threatening my job unless I do something about you." (September 30, 2009 at 4:21 PM)
If true, the emails raise troubling questions about a potentially unethical relationship between advertising dollars and editorial content at the popular magazine, one that stretches beyond mere motorcycle reviews and appears to include reporting on the safety of children's helmets.
We will bring you the whole saga, by Robin Hartfiel, next week.