Re: Herald article on DJs paid to promote diet product

[Dave Faneuf <tklaundry@juno.com>]

On Tue, 7 Jan 2003 08:06:48 -0500 "Brian Vita" <brian_vita@cssinc.com>
writes:
> How is this any different from the folks over at Magic hawking some 
> kind of
> nasal spray that works miracles before their air shift?
> 
> Brian T. Vita, President

I haven't heard that one, but to draw a distinction Magic, with all due
respect to Gay Vernon, is not considered a news source by anyone.  WBZ on
the other hand promotes itself as the news station.  In the minds of many
listeners there is little or no distinction drawn between a talk show
host and newscaster.  Yes there should be, but having worked in that
environment in a couple of stations I was shocked at how many intellegent
people (high ranking public officials and pols included) that don't draw
the distinction.  
The best way to handle something like this is the way BZ does it when
newscasters have to read a live spot,  begin the spot with "The following
is a commercial announcement".  IIRC didn't a number of national TV types
and other celebs get some heat for doing product endorsements without
saying it was a paid announcement,?  I still see those disclaimers on TV
now and again when a celeb is pushing a product, mostly insurance for the
elderly it seems.
df