Selling out the news?
Las Vegas TV station KWU apparently has decided to react to
the drop in advertising dollars many news operations are experiencing by product
placement on its newscasts. Anchors
recently delivered the news with iced coffees from a popular fast-food
franchise on their desks.
As Angela
Grant points out on News Videographer:
“In my opinion, this conflicts with
several points in SPJ’s
Code of Ethics “Act Independently” section:
·
Avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived.
·
Remain free of associations and activities that may
compromise integrity or damage credibility.
·
Deny favored treatment to advertisers and special
interests and resist their pressure to influence news coverage.
Certainly pressures are building as news organizations adapt to the shift in the way our audiences want to receive the news. But this smacks of at least the appearance of advertisers influencing news content. This also points out why it’s
so important for SPJ to continue to push ethics at this time of change. We need to maintain
a watchdog approach and be vigilant to make sure the high standards we have set
over the past century do not erode.