The Rise of 'Newsvertisements'

"Don't you love local TV news stories about critical topics like Supernanny, The Apprentice or Survivor?" Cause Communications' Jason Salzman asks in his Rocky Mountain News column. Salzman lists several examples of stories produced by Denver's local TV news programs and finds that most of the stories focused on entertainment programming run by the stations' respective networks. "I think what's more obvious is that journalists at local outlets should give their news judgment an extreme makeover and drop most entertainment news tie- ins," Salzman writes. "[I]f the local TV outlets insist on broadcasting 'news' about entertainment programming, they should inform viewers when they have a financial interest in the success of the show mentioned. Without proper disclosure, these local stories should be seen by viewers as advertisements embedded in the newscasts. I can't decide whether to call them 'advernewsments' or 'newsvertisements.'" [from PRWatch.org/spin]