Editorial slant should be accounted for separately from editorial quality. As far as I know, there are no efforts underway to “replace the journalists and journalism … with volunteers and corporate marketing writers.” And I know for certain that scores of fine journalists continue writing for Forbes.

Ultimately, quality matters. You can’t replace the journalists and journalism Forbes has lost over the years with volunteers and corporate marketing writers. That’s not to say you can’t make money trying, of course.

I helped build True/Slant and am currently working with great people at Forbes. I speak for myself alone.

I agree this new kind of advertising needs to be done with care. Taking that care will be, I presume, an iterative process.

That said, “blurring the line between advertising and editorial content” has been an iterative and continual process for decades.

As a news consumer, I’ve heard David Brinkley tell me about the great people at Archer Daniels Midland making his broadcast possible, listened as the same man on the radio who tells the news also talk about life insurance and car tires, and I’ve seen ads claw their way to Page 1 of even the most traditional print pubs.

All news – print, broadcast, online – is sponsored by or underwritten by someone. Pretending otherwise is foolishness. We need new ways to make it work.

In entertainment, the blurring’s even more so: Seinfeld inexplicably had CA software next to his Apple II. Last season while watching “Community,” a tax software commercial appeared featuring two of the shows recurring characters. “Mad Men” features “pre-ads” styled and sound-designed like the show itself.

Perhaps the brand and credibility concerns differ among all these examples. All of us in this space will need to be cognizant of these differences and dangers:

- Publishers weaving advertising and marketing with editorial need to take care to be transparent
- Per what Robin said, Advertisers and Marketers need to create messages that have some value and interest for people reading and interacting with it – if they don’t, no one will read and interact with it
- Journalists need, as ever, to be transparent, too
- Participants / Consumers / The People Formerly Known as The Audience should take care they understand that with which they’re interacting

We’ve been working toward new, sustainable models for news and opinion. I don’t expect a single silver bullet. I do expect we’ll continue iterating until there is a workable, successful and profitable solution.