Ethics again. I interviewed David Markey by phone a few days ago at his office in Dublin, Ireland and now he’s here in the states. He just gave a workshop on “Can Publishers Afford To Be Ethical?” It’s clear that the whole issue is very “unclear.” However, in his publication group everything is run by his editors. He issues no mandate from on high. As we heard yesterday at the ARC meeting and again today, there’s just more and more pressure being put on ag media to run public relations material. I thought it was very interesting that although David will publish an advertorial he charges 25 percent more to the advertiser. Makes sense to me.

Charlie Hale, Bayer CropScience, was in the room and encouraged all the publishers and editors to hold their ground when the pressure comes to bear. He said that the media credibility is what he buys and he wants to make sure that’s maintained.