@thegreatwent, I may sound cynical but in your other reply to @techwizardry, you cite the example of NYT. You really think large media houses like NYT are impartial? Most people don't think so and as a matter of fact, media is not impartial though it's supposed to be.
While allowing display ads may not right away lead to corporate influence, but history shows that if you take money from someone they will surely want to influence how you operate.
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Yes it's a good point you made about the NYTs. I remember Cenk Uygur of "The Young Turks" claims he was fired from MSNBC because he kept running stories that the advertisers didn't like, so the claim goes. But how would a few measly banner ads for airline tickets or the thing I just googled corrupt the content....when WE are the ones creating the content. That's the beauty of these kinds of platforms, there is no "editorial board" making decisions about what we can and can't write about.
Take for example Google or FB ads. Don't you think they have the interest of their advertisers in their mind?
It's often hard to see how things will turn out. There may be a chance that banner ads will be harmless, who knows?