>corporate funding (ads and advertisers) need not have influence over the institution itself in order to place ads in a news source.
That's only as true as long as the source in question can continue to exist without the support of the advertisers. As supplemental income (like NPR does), it's fine, because if an advertiser tries to throw their weight around, the outfit can just tell them to get lost.
However, if advertising is a primary source of income, that gives the advertiser a disproportionate amount of power over the content of that source, because every battle can become "Do this or we drop funding".
That's only as true as long as the source in question can continue to exist without the support of the advertisers. As supplemental income (like NPR does), it's fine, because if an advertiser tries to throw their weight around, the outfit can just tell them to get lost.
However, if advertising is a primary source of income, that gives the advertiser a disproportionate amount of power over the content of that source, because every battle can become "Do this or we drop funding".