The Sacred Line is Crossed—News vs. Advertising
In an effort to boost advertising revenue, Meredith Corporation has crossed a line that could destroy what little credibility local news has left. I’m talking about product placements during newscasts at KVVU in Las Vegas. Anchors on the morning show sit with cups of McDonald’s iced coffee on their desks during the news and lifestyle portion of the show. Other Meredith stations are doing the same thing.
This is anathema to any true journalist. The strict line between news and advertising is a long-honored tradition. When I worked at KPNX channel 12 in Phoenix, the line was also physical. The news department was upstairs, advertising downstairs.
One day the line was tested. Our investigative reporter planned to air a segment critical of the repair shop at one of the city’s largest car dealerships. The station’s rep for the dealership made the long trip upstairs. He asked the news director to kill the segment because his client had threatened to cancel its hefty advertising contract. The news director refused. That day we all felt proud to be in journalism.
The people at KVVU can’t be feeling proud of their profession these days. The news director at the station was put on the spot when he had to justify his company’s actions in an interview with the New York Times. “There was a healthy dose of skepticism, and I’m please there was—it means they’re being journalists,” said Adam Bradshaw.
Except that now they don’t feel so much like journalists and neither does he. They know like the rest of us that they’ve crossed a sacred line and beyond it lies a very slippery slope. If you can have cups of McDonald’s iced coffee on your desk during the news, it’s not much of a stretch to have sponsored newscast segments with the anchors touting their favorite restaurants or movies.
The result: Audiences don’t trust the news so TV stations don’t get the viewership they need to stay alive. Everyone loses.
