SPJ speaks out in support of 'CA' staffers who bucked sponsored news

From the statement:

As news organizations develop creative ways to create new revenue streams in a time of lower circulation and ratings, SPJ encourages journalists to keep a vigilant eye toward journalistic independence and integrity. A wall between news and advertising must be firmly established and upheld. The trust of readers, viewers and listeners is at stake, and once lost, cannot be retrieved.

“I cringed when I read about an editor's interest in ‘monetizing content,’
a phrase that needs a wall right in the middle of it,” SPJ Ethics Committee
chairman Andy Schotz said. “Outsiders’ money should not be involved in the news
process.”