Russia’s war on Ukraine is forcing advertisers to think long and hard about where is and isn’t acceptable for their ads to run. As a result, news publishers are not seeing ad revenues grow despite upticks in traffic.

It’s a familiar dilemma: its most in-demand content can see corresponding advertising fees rates drop by as much as a fifth as advertisers prioritize caution over civic responsibility, according to Digiday sources.

The crisis in Ukraine is also unfolding with a new lens on brand safety that advertisers have put on during the pandemic.

Joshua Lowcock, global chief media officer at IPG’s UM Worldwide, said his counsel to clients who ask (UM’s clients include Behr paints, Grubhub, Enterprise Holdings and retailer H&M) is to “stay on quality, legitimate news” content. “We continue to encourage clients to support journalism and news. No one is hitting pause on spending given [that] the invasion hasn’t resulted in domestic stay-at-home orders, close of retail trade, to name a few.”

Read more on Digiday.