You have to hand it to the Times Publishing Company and their advertising department for being ahead of the game when it comes to innovative ad products they offer local and national advertisers.

The most recent edition of “Her Times” that delivered on Sunday was chock full of content for the contemporary female audience accompanied by lots of nice-looking full-color ads.

This weekend, in an apparent policy change for the broadsheet, the Erie Times-News began running a single display ad on the lower-right corner of their editorial spread. An ad appeared on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday’s editions but not this (Wednesday) morning’s.

Erie Times-News Sunday, Aug. 2, 2009 Pages 2-3B Editorials with ad magnified

Although I personally don’t think it’s a big deal, the development is pretty alarming considering that the editorial pages are the “inner sanctum” of the newspaper. This is the place where the paper can take a stand without the appearance of being “kept.” Traditionally these pages which include the letters to the editor are among the most read, so this new display ad avail would be highly desirable.

The addition of advertising to such a valued (and until now, protected) space is just another sign of the times in which all media finds itself in, and had to be a point of considerable discussion among all the players at the paper. A request for comment from Public Editor Liz Allen was not replied to.

Time will tell if there is any fallout to the move. I just hope that it doesn’t mean less space for George Will’s column.