Yesterday a professor asked me if we could add a “Donate” button at the bottom of an upcoming article on LUTE Times, a classroom blog.

The article is about an organization, and the button would presumably take you to a page where you could fill in your credit card information and give them money.

“No way,” I said. “That would be advocacy.”

My professor wasn’t buying it, and challenged me to defend my claim. “Journalism has changed,” she told me. “It’s not all ‘here are the facts ma’am’ anymore.” At the very least she said we could put a link to their website in the story.

That I would be fine with.

What do you think? Would a “Donate” button comromise objectivity? Is it different in nature from a link to a website? What would you have done?