More from the article...

... That advertising no-go zone seems to keep widening.

It is a headache that news publishers can hardly afford. Many are also grappling with subscriber declines and losses in traffic from Google and other tech platforms, and are now making an aggressive push to change advertisers' perceptions.

Advertisers' aversion to news was on full display in the past election, when many marketers paused campaigns, and it hasn't fully abated, according to industry executives. The news cycle since the election has remained hectic and unattractive to advertisers, with stories about President-elect Donald Trump's controversial cabinet picks, global wars and the shooting of a health insurance executive in New York.

News organizations recently began publicizing studies that show it really isn't dangerous for a brand to appear near a sensitive story. At the same time, they say blunt campaign-planning tools wind up fencing off even harmless content -- and those stories' potentially large audiences -- from advertisements. ...