Trawling newspagedesigner like I always do, I came upon this page.
The page is nicely done. What caught my attention was the ad.
Likely, the designer didn't have a choice. This ad was likely sold by advertising, with the pitch that the biz department was going to do a special section on ethanol.
My question is, does this page seem to, in the end, be more of an advertorial than an editorial section? Does it cross the line?
I'm reminded of a Sunday business section I did more than a year ago. The story was all about the anniversary of a local construction equipment company. I was pretty much done with the layout when I noticed the entire back page of the tab was an ad for the company. We didn't end up running the story, because it seemed like it was too much of an endorsement of that company. So at 7:30 p.m., I had to scrap the whole design and start from scratch on another story. The company understood and wasn't too pissed about it, luckily.
My point is, I think we have to be careful with business coverage and advertising. We don't want to be too big of a cheerleader, but we do need to tell our community about different issues or businesses. It's a fine line, and we as designers play just as important a role as advertising reps and editors.
