By Katherine Gregg Journal Political Writer
PROVIDENCE — An arm of the Raimondo administration has in recent weeks been the sole advertiser in a Monday-through-Friday newsletter at the center of The Boston Globe’s Rhode Island expansion drive.
And not just that, but the emails delivering the Globe’s Rhode Island-themed newsletter say: “Presented by Rhode Island Commerce.”
The state economic-development agency, the Commerce Corporation, has placed similar ads with other news outlets, including the online GoLocalProv.com.
But the words “Presented by Rhode Island Commerce” prompted one Journal reader, who asked to remain anonymous because of her state job, to ask: “What’s Commerce’s relationship with the Globe?
“If Commerce is paying for the Globe’s coverage of Rhode Island, it certainly makes one question the integrity of their reporting on issues such as the Fane Tower.”
Apprised of the circumstances, Jill Geisler, Bill Plante Chair in Leadership and Media Integrity at Loyola University Chicago, raised several questions and concerns.
“State governments have advertising budgets for tourism, lotteries, economic development — so the act of placing ads isn’t itself unethical,’’ she noted in an email to The Journal.
“The devil is in the details. What does ‘presented by’ mean? In the world of sponsorships, that language is murky and may lead a reader to think the state has control of the news content. Has the Globe done anything by way of a disclaimer on the newsletter to clarify that the content is independent of the government sponsor?
“Your reader would have less concern if there were transparency about a firewall between the state and the newsletter. Again, sponsorships of any sort shouldn’t affect news coverage, whether it is Popeye’s Chicken or RI Commerce, but since this is a newsletter about the state, sponsored by the state, the absence of transparency could lead readers to perceive that it is an advertorial rather than independently produced news.”
“I don’t know the answers to all those questions,” she continued, “but I know your reader had a genuine concern — and that should concern both the state and the Globe. I would assume neither wants to give the impression that the newsletter is a house organ of RI Commerce — and that this is straightforward advertising. ... Greater transparency about the relationship would benefit everyone.”
Gov. Gina Raimondo chairs the commerce board, which makes decisions about investments in companies thinking about expanding or relocating in Rhode Island.
Commerce spokesman Matt Sheaff said the decision on where to place the ads began with recommendations from the Commerce Corporation’s advertising and media-placement consultant, the RDW Group, but the Commerce Corporation’s marketing director, Heather Evans, made the final decision based on “circulation, reach, value, geographic diversity,” among other factors.
The ads promote the agency’s small-business programs, with catchphrases such as, “Grow here. Scale here,” and a video of Raimondo and others touting the Goldman Sachs-backed 10,000 Small Businesses program.
Sheaff said the ads promoting the small-business programs are running for three weeks starting Nov. 18, and again for three weeks starting Jan. 13, in some media outlets, including print, radio and online. The total cost: $136,633 out of a $150,000 annual in-state advertising budget.
In the print category, that includes $55,120 in ad buys in the Warwick Beacon, Cranston Herald, Johnston Sun Rise, Valley Breeze, Bristol Times, Sakonnet Times, Warren Times-Gazette, East Providence Post, Jamestown Press, Coventry Courier, Chariho Times, Narragansett Times, East Greenwich Pendulum, North Kingstown Standard Times, and Providence Business News. (Past ad campaigns have included The Journal, but not this one.)
The radio bookings include 30-second spots on WEEI, WPRO, Pandora and Spotify ($37,800); and 15-second spots on The Public’s Radio ($18,900).
The campaign also includes $17,100 for paid social media, including Facebook and Instagram.
Sheaff said commerce also paid $4,347 for three weeks of weekday ads in The Boston Globe’s daily newsletter, Rhode Map. He said the ads are also running on GoLocalProv, under an arrangement where the Commerce Corporation pays “$3,366 per month to GoLocal, which includes newsletter advertisements in e-blasts, and weekly small business interviews.” (He said there are no agreements with either entity akin to the previously reported agreement GoLocal forged with the Rhode Island Airport Corporation to provide “digital advertising, sponsored content and promotion.”)
As for the words “Presented by Rhode Island Commerce” on the Rhode Map emails, Sheaff said: “We don’t choose or approve the ‘presented by’ language. Your questions are better directed to the Globe.”
Jane Bowman, the Globe’s vice president for strategic partnerships and marketing, provided this answer: “’Presented by’ refers to newsroom produced stories with paid advertisements adjacent to the content. The advertiser has no influence on what the newsroom produces.”
She said “sponsored is defined as stories produced in collaboration with the advertiser, with the news and editorial departments of the Globe having no role in its production or display.”
She said the newsletter “is produced by the newsroom with no outside influence.”