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FCC Calls for Investigation of Product 'Payola' NewsMax.com WiresWASHINGTON - A broadcast regulator proposed an investigation into sneaky salesmanship by people who promote products on television without disclosing that they are paid to do it. Jonathan Adelstein, a member of the Federal Communications Commission, said May 25 that many stations and the supposed experts who appear on them appear not to know it is illegal to make these pitches without making viewers aware of the payments. Story Continues Below "Not only are celebrity chefs and celebrity fashion up for sale but, most ominously, news shows are increasingly up for bid," the commissioner told the Media Institute, a nonprofit research foundation. "Undisclosed promotions are not just wrong - they are payola, and they are illegal," Adelstein said. He said small-print disclosures that appear in the blink of an eye during program credits "could not possibly qualify" as appropriate disclosure. The commissioner said fashion commentators and prominent chefs are working up financial deals with companies and often not disclosing them on the air. Adelstein encouraged his commission to adopt rules similar to those of the Federal Trade Commission, which requires that disclosures be "clear and prominent." An FCC spokesman, David Fiske, said, the agency is "committed to enforcing our existing rules and we'll respond to any complaints we'll receive." Adelstein, a Democrat, said the issue merits an investigation regardless of whether the public complains. "The simple fact of nondisclosure means that listeners and viewers are not always aware that companies are impermissibly blurring the line between advertising and content," he said. Disclosure violations can result in a fine of up to $10,000 for a person, and a year in jail if prosecuted by the Justice Department. The FCC recently reminded broadcasters of rules requiring them to identify the sources of government videos that are packaged as TV news reports. "People out there are frustrated by what they see as fake news and relentless marketing," Adelstein said. In one of the examples cited by The Wall Street Journal, James Oppenheim, Child magazine's technology editor, praised products from six companies that paid him for the mention on an Austin, Texas, station. Neither he nor the station disclosed the arrangement. A month later, on NBC's "Today," Oppenheim talked about the products of 15 companies, eight of which had paid him in the past year to mention them on local television. NBC was looking into his relationship with the companies. Oppenheim said he does not accept payment for national TV appearances and his product judgments in local TV appearances are not influenced by the payments.
© 2005 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Editor's note: Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics: |
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