Thread by @nandoodles

This week's BRANDED is out!

Advertisers will spend over $300 billion this year, but it's not going to reach news & media orgs. Why?

Please meet "keyword blacklists" — the deeply stupid Boomer-era ad practice stealing $$ away from journalism.

branded.substack.com/p/keyword-blac…

A keyword blacklist is basically an Excel file of "bad words" that make covering the news unprofitable.

For example, every time a news outlet reports on a murder case, the blacklist ensures no one serves ads on it.

This puts newsrooms in an impossible situation.

Imagine being a breaking news or current events reporter. Your job is to describe the news accurately.

You can't NOT use the word "shooting" to describe a shooting. So you do it — and get blacklisted.

wsj.com/articles/adver…

Keyword blacklists were originally designed to keep ads off porn, so they put "lesbian" "transgender" and "sex" on the list.

This means any coverage of LGBTQ issues is also effectively unprofitable.

(This @Slate article probably pulls in good traffic, but not much revenue.)

@Slate If you're a newsroom covering sexuality or "Asian" "Muslim or "interracial" issues, you're shit out of luck too.

That's a lot of lost revenue for a media org like @VICE, which does all of the above.

@Slate @VICE This dumbass Excel file is literally destroying the news industry.

Keyword blacklists blocked the media from $3.2 billion last year in the US, UK & Australia.

They can't write about PHOTOSHOOTS bc it contains the word SHOOT.

theguardian.com/media/2020/jan…

@Slate @VICE If you'd like to reach human beings with a pulse and a credit card, there's no better place than to advertise on the NEWS.

ACT NOW: Check your blacklist today (or request your agency for a copy).

Also, stay informed! Sign up for BRANDED! 👇🏽
branded.substack.com/p/keyword-blac…

I also want to take this time to float the theory that @nytimes sticks to describing “racism” as “racially tinged anxiety” & other euphemisms possibly bc it bypasses the keyword blacklists.

Anyone know for sure?

https://twitter.com/writersofcolour/status/1069908657482199042?s=21

https://twitter.com/writersofcolour/status/1069908657482199042

@nytimes Not sure if we all fully appreciate this Stage 5 emergency. Media orgs lose ad dollars for using the words:

∙"The Duke and Duchess of Sussex" bc it contains the letters "SEX"
∙"Gay" bc it could be porn
∙The preposition "Is" bc it could be about ISIS

Yes, it's THAT BAD.