I tried an experiment, changing the ad copy in two publications in very subtle ways, just changing the superlatives I used to describe the product. In one publication I said it was flexible, in the other I said programmable, for example. Sure enough, when the editorial came out in each pub, they used the adjectives I had used in my ads. Exactly the same ones. It was as if they wrote the editorial by massaging my ad copy.
Also it was amazing to me how often my ads ran adjacent to editorial about the products.
All these are indicators, but not proof, that advertisers have at least some control over what appears in editorial. —Dave Winer —Doc on Ad Age (Scripting News)