NEW YORK – The Wall Street Journal has placed Greek-American advertising industry executive Lou Paskalis in the spotlight. The article by Megan Graham noted that Paskalis, “who previously held leadership roles at the marketing trade group MMA Global and Bank of America Corp., has joined a startup that seeks to rate news for reliability and bias,” becoming “chief strategy officer at Ad Fontes Media Inc., a Colorado-based public-benefit corporation –a for-profit company that aims to generate public good.”

Ad Fontes Media publishes a ‘Media Bias Chart’ that WSJ says “is designed to make clear the political leanings of media such as print and digital publications, podcasts and television news shows.”

While readers stand to benefit from awareness of potential bias in the news they read, Graham writes that, “marketers in the digital era have become increasingly concerned about making sure their ads don’t appear near content that they or their consumers could consider objectionable, upsetting or partisan. Major brands in 2017 pulled spending from Alphabet Inc.’s YouTube and Google Display Network, for example, after ads by the British government and companies such as cosmetics giant L’Oréal SA were discovered appearing before videos supporting terrorist groups. And some advertisers in 2020 tried to steer away from news coverage of Covid-19, using digital tools to block their ads from running near anything with the keyword ‘coronavirus’.

Those fears have also led to some brands choosing to stay away from news entirely.”

Ad Fontes founder and Chief Executive Vanessa Otero told Graham that, “For a lot of years, brands have pulled away from news,” and tht some companies try to avoid negative or political content. Otero added, “we’re looking for brands to have the opportunity to invest in actual good, reputable journalism and be able to identify it with our data.”

According to the article, “Mr. Paskalis said his role will involve raising awareness around the value of news audiences for marketers and helping them prioritize investment in news advertising in a polarized media landscape.”

WSJ added that, “Ad Fontes gives advertisers a consistent way to think beyond news-site or keyword blocking, and Paskalis says that enables them to “unlock the value of news audiences, which are, generally speaking, more influential and more affluential than prime-time audiences.”

He will take the role in a ‘fractional capacity’. “He continues at his own company, AJL Advisory LLC, which aims to work with companies that focus on making the digital ecosystem safer and more accountable for marketers and consumers,” WSJ says.