Newspapers give advertisers good press

Brian Hartz's column in the IDS regarding newspapers giving good press to advertisers certainly rang a bell ("Selling out or just the facts?" Oct. 17). During the 1990s I was a general manager of a company that had more than 30 restaurants and brewpubs in the Pacific Northwest. At that time we did not buy advertising from either of the two biggest newspapers. It mystified me that, in spite of our obvious success, we were rarely mentioned by either newspaper. In fact, less successful competitors were regularly given positive press. By the end of the 1990s we began buying ads in both newspapers. Almost immediately things turned around: you couldn't go a week without reading something about us in the newspaper, all of it quite favorable. It seems that when you buy advertising in newspapers, you're not paying to reach customers through the ads themselves (which are so easily lost in the shuffle), you're paying to get the attention of the people who run the newspaper. \nPaul Hehn\nPortland, Oregon