The Headline:
In risky move, newscasts adopt product placements
it's not new but it is icky, from the link
Product placement, media and branded entertainment agencies say they are increasingly being pitched opportunities from local stations to integrate their clients' products into news programing in exchange for buying commercial time or paying integration fees.
"There are more local news stations that are incorporating brands into news in innovative, cutting-edge ways," said Aaron Gordon, president of entertainment marketing firm Set Resources Inc. "The line, which has always been black and white in terms of what's news and what's commercials, is now being blurred."
"We're all trying to find ways of integrating commercial messages into content that satisfy the audience and advertisers without hurting our product," KRON president and general manager Mark Antonitis said.
AUDIENCE BACKLASH
Radio-Television News Directors Association president Barbara Cochran warned that integrating advertisers into news programing could backfire, costing local stations viewers instead of having the intended effect of increasing ad sales. "You're selling the credibility of the news, and if viewers start thinking your news is for sale, then the credibility of your news is lost and your audience is lost," she said.
According to RTNDA's ethics guidelines, "news reporting and decision-making should be free of inappropriate commercial influences" and "should not show favoritism to advertisers," and "news organizations should protect the integrity of coverage against any potential conflict of interest."
Last month, KRON aired an 11-day "Spa Spectacular" series in which 11 local spas were featured in the last half-hour of its five-hour morning news programs and viewers were offered the opportunity to purchase half-price gift certificates for spa services.
According to Antonitis, one of the station's news anchors announced that the spas were paying to be featured on the program during the segments.
"I want it to be absolutely clear that that's what's going on here," Antonitis said. "If it's in the newscast, it has to be clearly identified either by an anchor, an announcement or even both that these people paid to be part of this segment or are providing products in exchange for the segment."
In another KRON integration that aired this month, Tourism Australia -- the government body responsible for international and domestic tourism marketing for Australia -- paid KRON to run a weeklong series featuring stories about the country in its morning news program. In addition to an integration fee, Tourism Australia bought traditional spots in the KRON newscasts, paid all expenses for a five-member news crew to travel to Australia and sponsored trips to Australia for two winners of an e-mail contest promoted on-air.
"They certainly had input into our stories, but anytime we do anything with an advertiser that involves news, we have ultimate editorial control," Antonitis said. In this case, Tourism Australia's pay-for-play role was disclosed in the end credits.
"We bring on people all the time to talk about books, products and interesting new ideas anyway," Antonitis said of KRON's decision to integrate advertisers into its news programing. "So if we can have the added benefit of a new revenue source and give something to our viewers that they wouldn't be able to get otherwise and advertisers get their products advertised, it's a win-win-win."
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more at the link
It's a win-win-win! Really? Hmm not for me. I'm definitly not against media making money, but come on people...
As Bill King once said "There's nothing real in the world anymore!" My bullsh*t detector shall be on high when watching KRON news.
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