Friday, March 17, 2006
Speaking of Credibility...
It appears that some local US broadcasters, desperate for money, are starting to accept product placement in their morning news shows. It's the Truman Show all over again where the pert housewife looks at the camera in her kitchen and talks about the wonderful product she is using.
Morning shows always have been loose about credibility. That's how tens of thousands of authors and others hawking products have made it on the air over the decades. PR firms made a good living out of doing this. But there is a limit to how this is done, and news shows should never sacrifice editorial control to advertisers. The worry is that is exactly what is being done.
I don't know about you, but I would be reluctant to send a guest to TV stations doing such "pay for play."
Morning shows always have been loose about credibility. That's how tens of thousands of authors and others hawking products have made it on the air over the decades. PR firms made a good living out of doing this. But there is a limit to how this is done, and news shows should never sacrifice editorial control to advertisers. The worry is that is exactly what is being done.
I don't know about you, but I would be reluctant to send a guest to TV stations doing such "pay for play."
Comments:
Post a Comment