Dive Summary:

• After taking down a sponsored article about Scientology, The Atlantic issued a formal apology on Tuesday, explaining that the magazine's marketing team had moderating the comments under the piece and that it "failed to update the policies that must govern the decisions" being made at the site as it integrates sponsored content.
• Sponsored content has caught on among numerous publications, including The Atlantic, Gawker, BuzzFeed and The Huffington Post, and is being praised as a smart business move by many.
• The Atlantic's statement indicated that the Scientology piece would remain deleted “until we figure all of this out."

From the article:

"... 'It shouldn’t have taken a wave of constructive criticism — but it has — to alert us that we’ve made a mistake, possibly several mistakes,' The Atlantic said in a statement. 'We now realize that as we explored new forms of digital advertising, we failed to update the policies that must govern the decisions we make along the way.' ..."