Tuesday, June 7, 2016

Buzzfeed drops ad contract with GOP over Trump

Buzzfeed has made it clear that it doesn’t think much of presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.

On Monday, the publisher announced that it had terminated its purportedly $1.3 million advertising deal with the Republican National Committee, refusing to run ads for Trump.

Its social media team tweeted a link explaining the decision:

The explanation includes a letter to employees from the publisher’s chief executive, Jonah Peretti. In it, he likens Trump ads to cigarette advertising, calling both “hazardous to our health”:

Hello BuzzFeeders,

I wanted to share with you a business decision we have made regarding the Trump for President campaign and why we made it.

In April, the Republican National Committee signed an agreement with BuzzFeed to spend a significant amount on political advertisements slated to run during the Fall election cycle. As you know, we accept advertisements from both republican and democratic candidates and we were pleased to accept this advertising order from the RNC.

Since signing this advertising deal, Donald Trump, as you know, has become the presumptive nominee of his party. The tone and substance of his campaign are unique in the history of modern US politics. Trump advocates banning Muslims from traveling to the United States, he’s threatened to limit the free press, and made offensive statements toward women, immigrants, descendants of immigrants, and foreign nationals.

Earlier today BuzzFeed informed the RNC that we would not accept Trump for President ads and that we would be terminating our agreement with them. The Trump campaign is directly opposed to the freedoms of our employees in the United States and around the world and in some cases, such as his proposed ban on international travel for Muslims, would make it impossible for our employees to do their jobs.

We don’t need to and do not expect to agree with the positions or values of all our advertisers. And as you know, there is a wall between our business and editorial operations. This decision to cancel this ad buy will have no influence on our continuing coverage of the campaign.

We certainly don’t like to turn away revenue that funds all the important work we do across the company. However, in some cases we must make business exceptions: we don’t run cigarette ads because they are hazardous to our health, and we won’t accept Trump ads for the exact same reason.

Thanks,

Jonah

Peretti told staffers that the contract’s termination won’t affect editorial coverage of Trump—and Buzzfeed’s editor-in-chief, Ben Smith, echoed the sentiment.

“This was Jonah’s call and the prerogative of a publisher,” Smith told reporters in an emailed statement.

Politico reported that the recent decision doesn’t mark the first time Buzzfeed has taken a position on a controversial topic:

In early 2012, BuzzFeed blacked out parts of their site in solidarity with the protest against the Stop Online Piracy Act. Following the Supreme Court ruling in 2015 which legalized same sex marriage, the site changed its logo to the rainbow flag colors, which are a symbol of the gay pride movement. Smith said at the time: "We firmly believe that for a number of issues, including civil rights, women’s rights, anti-racism, and LGBT equality, there are not two sides."

Politico reported that The Huffington Post includes a note to each story it publishes about the candidate—which calls Trump a “serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, misogynist and birther.” The publication will also not run ads for Trump.

“We've made our stance on Trump clear from the very beginning and will not be running any Trump for President ads," a Huffington Post representative told Politico.

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However, as the elections draw near and the political climate becomes increasingly heated, organizations can face public backlash or criticism for taking a stance on controversial issues. Media companies, tasked with fair and unbiased news coverage, must be especially careful.

Washington Post reporter Paul Waldman tweeted that Buzzfeed could make a “huge mistake” by breaking its deal with the GOP and then publishing ads for Clinton:

Though Buzzfeed’s announcement has garnered headlines, it seems the decision didn’t affect any of the RNC’s marketing plans. The Wall Street Journal reported:

“Space was reserved on many platforms, but we never intended to use Buzzfeed,” Sean Spicer, chief strategist and communications director at the RNC, said in an emailed statement. The agreement with BuzzFeed represented a fraction of the approximately $150 million in advertising across “dozens” of platforms that the RNC has reserved in order to ensure it paid the lowest rates, the official said. A representative for Mr. Trump declined to comment beyond the RNC’s response.

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