This is an important trend, but as usual the news people have slanted it to their own benefit: Advertisers are not blacklisting "hard news", they're just fed up with their brands being associated with negative, sensationalist reporting.

These types of blacklists are good, especially if they ideally force media companies to drop the emotional clap-trap and get back to proper reporting and journalism.

Media has always been manipulative, but it's become incredibly heightened in the deathmatch for eyeballs and ad clicks. If the ad-buying companies continue this pushback, perhaps the media companies will start reporting the news in a more neutral & factual way.