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University of MN - Duluth
Broadcast News Ethics Crossing the line with cross-promotion Amber Ooley
Fall 11
Some broadcast news media are now using a technique called cross-promotion; promoting products, companies as well as primetime television shows affiliated with the network. What’s the point? News corporations hope to keep the millions watching ER stay tuned to the 10 p.m. news. In 1995, Eric Olson was given an assignment to create a “behind the scenes” story on the number one primetime show. It will air right after the show as a lead in to the newscast. Should Olson go through with the story? Independence According to the Radio Television Digital News Association, or RTDNA, the Code of Ethics states “Professional electronic journalists should operate as trustees of the public, seek the truth, report it fairly and with integrity and independence, and stand accountable for their actions.” With subcategories of Truth, Fairness, Integrity, Independence and Accountability, this specific ethics case study falls under Independence. “Professional electronic journalists should defend the independence of all journalists from those seeking influence or control over news content.” Olson was a reporter in the Twin Cities for KARE 11 TV during the nineties. Olson is currently a journalism professor at the University of Minnesota Duluth. KARE 11 TV is an affiliate of NBC which produced the hit TV show ER from 1994 until 2009. ER was the number one rated television show nationwide during the 1990’s. According to The Internet Movie Database, or IMDb, each episode of ER told the story of a day in the ER. ER tries to depict the stressful environment found well, in a hospital specifically an emergency room. The emotional rollercoaster would relate to the hit show today, Grey’s Anatomy. Olson said more people watched ER at 9 p.m. than our 10 p.m. news. He said he was just on the receiving end. If he were to guess, the idea came from NBC Television Affiliate Relations. “From time to time they (NBC Television Affiliate Relations) offer availabilities to major-market local stations who are interested in doing these kinds of stories,” Olson said. Olson was aware that this type of story was potentially against the journalist’s code of ethics. However, he decided that he would cover the behind the scenes story from the set of ER, as well as a separate story expressing real ER surgeons’ point of views on the show. “If I didn’t do it, another reporter would have done it,” Olson said. The organization paid for his travel expenses and Olson created the story in NBC’s attempt to lead more viewers into their newscast.
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This is called cross-promotion and is surprisingly common for many larger news stations. Stated in the Broadcast Journalism Handbook, “Cross-promotion means that the sales department is promoting something and wants the news department to do a tie-in, so that folks watching the news will tune into the other programming at the station too.” The handbook also notes that this is free advertising, which the sales departments take advantage of whenever possible. A lot of the times the reporter will not have a choice whether to run a story that the sales department has suggested. Ownership Interest According to the RTDNA code of ethics, Olson should have avoided this story because he allowed the interest of ownership to influence the content. NBC wanted higher ratings for the KARE TV newscast and this isn’t an “ethical” way to increase ratings, according to this specific code. The Pew Research Center conducted a survey of US journalists and news executives in 2000. A quarter of journalists purposely avoided newsworthy stories and over 61 percent said that corporate owners exerted a fair amount of influence on editorial decisions. Reporters continuously fight with their conscious whether to be ethical and be true to their viewers or to keep their job and follow what the boss says to do. Zack Vavricka, a reporter at Duluth’s Northland Newscenter, said if he were in this situation he would more than likely say yes to the story assignment. “When you get into this business you really have to do what you’re told,” Vavricka said. Vavricka said it really depends on what resources are available to the news station. In his case a small local station most likely would not be able to pursue this type of story, compared to the larger KARE 11 station. “If there was no reason to localize the story to Duluth or even the state of Minnesota, I would definitely talk to my director about reconsidering it,” Vavricka said. “If it was just to promote the show, I wouldn’t do it.” FOX News Director Jason Vincent has dealt with a several cross-promotion stories during his career. He said the cross-promotion stories are tossed around frequently throughout the year, not necessarily only during sweeps. Last year the news team put together a singing competition called Northland Idol. Contestants sent in their video and the news team chose the top 21 singers. This was a tie-in with American Idol. Is this an acceptable form of cross-promotion? “Two things I take into the picture [when deciding to go with the story or not], it has to have news value and audience appeal,” said Vincent.
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Vincent thought the Northland Idol was acceptable under the Journalist’s Code of Ethics because it was just a fun promotion. The top winner in the Northland Idol competition received tickets and paid-for travel to see the American Idol Finale in Hollywood. “It wasn’t in our main news block,” said Vincent. “Plus American Idol is the number one show on TV.” Vincent doesn’t always decide to offer the story idea to his news team. Just a couple months ago Vincent decided not to run a tie-in with America’s Most Wanted. The television show had chosen the top twenty law enforcement officers in the country and one just happened to be from the area. “I didn’t see any real newsy tie-in,” said Vincent. “Why was this one person chosen?” Vincent said it would have been different if he had done something significant such as saving a child. Cross-Promotion is Normalized In May of 2004 NBC News executives were trying to reason with the public and defend their show Dateline. According to Dateline’s website, this primetime broadcast allows NBC to consistently and comprehensively present the highest-quality reporting, investigative features, breaking news coverage and newsmaker profiles. An article in the Quill Magazine wrote that Dateline devoted a large amount of program coverage to the Friends, The Apprentice and Frasier season finales, all highly-rated NBC shows. “While Dateline was busy shilling for these shows, our two editions of 60 Minutes were breaking news that will change the world forever,” said CBS chief Les Mooves. However, CBS’ Early Show gives the show Survivor a good share of free promotion. Former NBC News President Neal Shapiro told the Associated Press that he thought the audience was totally understanding. According to Jonathan Hardy in his Cross-Media Promotion, entertainment cross-promotion may be normalized as marketing, or accepted as ‘soft’ news. Joseph Angotti from Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism said the lines between news and entertainment are continually blurring, and the audience doesn’t seem to care. Looking at our ever changing broadcast television, will our news become entertainment? Will there be news segments throughout the day instead of specific times designated for the newscast?
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In the world of entertainment vs. news, it seems as if the viewers may be accepting of blurring the line.
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Source List Eric Olson Journalism Professor In-person Interview (218) 409-4170
[email protected] Jason Vincent FOX News Director Phone Interview (218) 728-8930 Zach Vavricka KBJR Reporter Phone Interview (218) 720-9600
[email protected] Hardy, J. (2010). Cross-media promotion. New York: Peter Lang. Web. pp. 65-119. The Quill. (2004). "NBC defends 'Dateline' episodes." Academic OneFile. Web. Pp 39. RTDNA. (2000). “Code of Ethics.” Radio Television Digital News Association. The Internet Movie Database. ER. Thompson, Robert, Malone, Cindy. (2004). The broadcast journalism handbook: a television news survival guide. Rowan & Littlefield. Print. pp. 65-66. Wood, Michelle, Michelle R. Nelson, Jaeho Cho, and Ronald A. Yaros (2004). "Tonight's Top Story: Commercial Content in Television News." Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly. Web. 81 (4), pp. 807-822.
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