'L.A. Times' shoots itself in the foot ... for show like 'Southland'?

The Los Angeles Times supposedly stuck its neck out, ethically speaking, for a front-page ad that looked a lot like a regular news story. That is, except for the word "advertisement" and the NBC peacock on top.
  Did anyone really confuse the below-the-fold ad for Southland, a midseason cop drama, with real front-page news stories on Somali pirates and local immigration sweeps? Or were they fazed by the (now-routine) placement of a print ad on page one? Not the point, said 70 readers who complained and the paper's editor, who objected ahead of time to the ad, which was written from the perspective of a "reporter" riding along with a rookie cop (played by O.C. alum Ben McKenzie).
  The publisher, Eddy Hartenstein, defended the ad in a story in Friday's business section. After all, the paper's parent, Tribune Co., filed for bankruptcy a few months ago, and ad revenue's tough to come by. That's why the Times' ad sales team suggested the tactic to NBC, which hadn't planned to do any print ads for the much-touted Southland. A line was crossed here, and it's maybe the most egregious example of church/state shenanigans in the newspaper business. But I'm mostly miffed that the Times took a risk like this on a show so cliché-ridden and lame it resorted to cuss words (bleeped out) in the premiere to try to seem badass. If you're going to rip down the wall that separates ads from content, it'd better be for the return of Hill Street Blues. Or Homicide. But Southland? The fallout from the ad will probably last a lot longer than the series does.

—Posted by T.L. Stanley