Included in the First Amendment to the Bill of Rights is a reference to the separation of church and state. In our society, this means a clear distinction should be drawn between religion and government, and in theory the two should never cross or impact each other.

A similar and equally important principle exists in journalism: the separation between the editorial and advertising departments of a news organization. It’s the paper’s responsibility to represent all points of view, and advertising does not bias writers or editors towards embracing one viewpoint or the other.

At newspapers across the country, the two departments are kept on separate wings, separate floors, or in separate rooms of the building. The Statesman’s newsroom and advertising department, for example, have separate offices in the Union basement. This further emphasizes the division in duties of both entities whose purpose, at times, could contradict each other to ensure that journalistic integrity is maintained.

A separate staff manages advertising space and is not responsible for the content or opinions represented in advertisements beyond its ethical duty to protect readers from gratuitous obscenity.

A clearly labeled ‘advertising supplement’ ran as a glossy insert the Statesman’s Oct. 8 issue to partially fund it. When this organization approached the advertising department, staff carefully reviewed the pamphlet and considered its potential impact on Statesman readers before agreeing to run it. It did not influence any editorial content or compromise in any way our journalistic values in bringing the campus community the responsible, fact-driven news to which it is entitled.