That positioning has also been reinforced in its business practices: Its advertising policy has been values-based, and Change.org only accepted advertising from progressive organizations that shared its values.
New and existing watchdog organizations, oversight groups and regulators including organizations like the Australian Advertising Standards Board, the SEC and the FDA, have all declared their intent, taken action or were required to enforce guidelines designed to protect audiences and hold companies accountable for social communication.
But he said the challenge for media organizations was finding a balance between advertising and subscription revenues and figuring out how to charge for content without alienating existing users -- which could lead to Web sites offering tiered levels of free and paid-for material.
For the most part, mainstream media organizations reserve the right to accept all these types of advertising while refusing any individual ads they deem offensive or unethical.
That makes it imperative for news organizations to develop new, disruptive models for journalism and advertising products that appeal to both consumers and marketers.