Fajardo, Puerto, Rico (October 17, 2005) Mark Whitaker, Editor of Newsweek, and President of the American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME), today announced a revised version of ASMEs Guidelines for Editors and Publishers at the annual American Magazine Conference. For magazines to be trusted by consumers and endure as brands, readers must be assured of their editorial integrity, the new guidelines state. In this latest edition, we have aimed to make the guidelines easier to understand and to distill them into ten basic statements of principle and practice.

ASME has issued these new guidelines with three goals in mind, said Whitaker.  The first is to make the guidelines easier to follow and enforce. The second is to highlight the core principles that the difference between advertising and editorial content should be transparent to readers, and that editors should have final say over whats appropriate for their readers and their brands. Assuming those principles are respected, the third is to give publishers more freedom to pursue creative and constructive partnerships with advertisers. We hope that ASMEs new ten commandments will continue to serve as the conscience of our industry, without giving everyone a headache.

Before beginning this review, we polled our members850 editors of 417 magazinesand found overwhelming support for the existence of the guidelines, added Marlene Kahan, Executive Director of ASME.  Members complained that the old guidelines were overly complicated and didnt address some of the new pressures they face. We hope that this new, shorter version will give them the support they need but be easier for everyone to follow and respect. 

With feedback from ASME and MPA members, the guidelines were revised and approved by the ASME board.  They were subsequently reviewed and received the full support of the MPA Executive Committee. 

Among the highlights: 

         LENGTH:  The guidelines have been shortened by 50% to make them clearer and easier to follow.

         LABELLING:  The new guidelines continue to insist that advertorials or any advertising that looks like editorial content be slugged. But they give magazines the option of using the designation Advertisement or Promotion, in keeping with the common practice in European magazines.

         ADJACENCIES:  ASME has simplified its stance on adjacencies.  The guidelines now state that advertisements should not be placed or sold for placement immediately before or after editorial pages that discuss, show or promote the advertised products. Beyond that, individual magazines will be able to decide how far away they want to keep advertising from related editorial pages.

         SPONSORSHIP:  The growing demand for advertising sponsorship is addressed.  While prohibiting sponsorship of regular features in magazines, the guidelines establish criteria for sponsoring special issues, extras and contests, and allow sponsorship of out-of-magazine events like awards shows and conferences.

         PRODUCT PLACEMENT:  The guidelines take a firm stand against placing products in stories in direct exchanges for payment or ad schedules. At the same time, they permit the practice of crediting products that editors have chosen to put in stories, and do not rule out product placement in advertorials that have been labeled Advertisement or Promotion.

Addressing the issue of enforcement, the new guidelines state that repeated and willful violations will result in disqualification from ASMEs National Magazine Awards.

View the revised guidelines here.