Dan Neil (journalist)

In 1991, Dan Neil had been moved from the newsroom of the News & Observer to the classified advertising department with the expectation "that he would write dealer-friendly pieces to attract readers to the newspaper's automobile classified section."[12] In contrast to the newsroom, where Neil had worked with editors, he noticed his copy was no longer edited.[12] "For seven years, I had unfettered access to 200,000 readers."[12] Neil's writing eventually reflected the lack of constraint.[12]

Neil's January 1996 review of the Ford Expedition described a back-seat encounter with his girlfriend,[5] writing "this was loving, consensual and — given the Expedition's dual airbags, side impact beams and standard four-wheel anti-lock brakes — safe sex."[12] The News and Observer reported Neil's recollection of the column in an interview years later:

"I wrote at some point about the kids getting into the Ford Expedition and commenting on the 'footprints' on the windshield. Well, that was just it! People went crazy! It was kind of like Janet Jackson's costume malfunction -- a none too daring transgression, overall, but the thing that finally sent people over the edge."[13]

Put on probation for the article, Neil was instructed to have his articles reviewed by an editor as well as the director of classified auto advertising.[12] Refusing, he was subsequently fired,[12] and wrote in a later Independent Weekly article that he was fired "for refusing to have my column vetted by the classified advertising department."[14]

Editors from The News & Observer contended that it was disingenuous to suggest that advertisers pressured the paper into firing Neil,[14] since Neil worked for an advertorial section of the advertising department at the time.[14]

The incident highlighted the growing issue that newspapers, under economic pressure, have in maintaining the virtual wall between the "church" of news gathering and the "state" of advertising sales, sometimes known as a Chinese wall.[6][12] Notably, Keith Bradsher — author of a book about SUV's called High and Mighty — indicated that among critics, "auto reviewers are the most likely to be compromised by the industry they cover."[6] Speaking in a 2005 radio interview with Brooke Gladstone, after receiving the Pulitzer Prize, Neil described the symbiotic relationship between the automobile industry and its critics:

"The entire environment is incestuous. They introduce new cars. They fly journalists in and put them up at really nice hotels and, you know, treat them to experiences that they would never possibly in a million years — they wouldn't even be allowed in these hotels ordinarily. You know, and that's not supposed to affect their judgment. But it is a compromised business, and it is also true that newspapers are under a great deal of revenue pressure on this score, and so yeah, a favorable editorial/advertorial content is often created to satisfy that need."[6]

In 2008, Neil participated in a federal class action suit against Sam Zell, who in 2007 purchased the Tribune Company, owner of the Los Angeles Times.[15]

After the takeover, Zell rated reporters by how many column inches they produced, relinquished the Los Angeles Times Magazine and other editorial publications to advertiser control — and laid off at least 1,000 employees.[15]

Neil called Zell "a corporate raider," adding "he's not a publisher. Newspapers are too important to the public to be treated as just pieces on a financial chessboard."[16] Neil and a group of Times employees claimed violations of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and alleged that Zell breached his duty of loyalty to Tribune's employees.[16]

Forbes described the suit as putting "the fast-changing newspaper business on trial," noting "newspapers have been under siege since the technology bubble popped in the late 1990s, with problems ranging from declining circulation, advertiser consolidation, classified ads migrating online, rising newsprint costs, bloated debt structures and, yes, over-staffing. Not to mention the rise of Internet news."[15]