Here's an ethical conundrum for you. I am editorial director for two different b2b pubs, with two different publishers.

PART 1, Publisher 1: For one publication, I just discovered the publisher sending e-mails to my free-lancers saying "you MUST quote x, y and z in your feature" (all advertisers, but also all leaders in the area being covered). I stepped in to say, "if you have correspondence for my free-lancers, please go through me," but I also pointed out that who is quoted in a feature will depend heavily on the angle the writer is taking. Publisher responded by saying, "We want to cover EVERY leader in this given area of the market" (and apparently that statement applies to all features). What's your response?

PART 2, Publisher 2: For the second publication, I was recently sent a potential guest column by one of the sales reps from his client, asking when we can include it in the magazine. Upon looking at the column, I discover A) it is 500 words too long and more importantly, B) it reads like an advertisement. That's on top of the fact that I ran a similar story just a few months ago, and I have a commitment from someone else (a nonprofit association) to contribute a column on a related topic. Upon informing the publisher that the sales rep has done this, I am informed that the client/potential advertiser does not want to commit to paid space without being guaranteed editorial, thus the contributed column. What's your response?

1)If your publisher wants to edito the magazine, then you're out of a job
2)If it's an ad, it should be marked advertising feature

It's easier to be holier than thou in deciding what is ethical and not ethical in b2b publishing.

Personally, if I thought my publisher was exercising undue influence in the magazine's editorial, I would be looking for another job.

It's important to lay down ground rules and say to your publisher, we can go this far but no farther.

Mutual respect is essential and also honesty.
Without either of these, you can't have a proper working relationship.

Sounds to me like the culture at your company is to run advertorial as editorial. Get out!