In risky move, (local) newscasts adopt (add) product placements

[Up2Late]

(This article is originally from "The Hollywood Reporter Magazine," which is very expensive trade publication, and charges for access to their articles, but I guess they have an arrangement with Reuters. I heard about this article today, when Harry Shearer read parts of it on his
"Le Show" radio show today: <http://www.harryshearer.com/leshow/index.html>)

In risky move, newscasts adopt product placements

Wed Mar 15, 2006 10:21 PM ET12

By Gail Schiller

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - While just about every television genre has jumped on the lucrative product-placement bandwagon, news programs generally have been considered off-limits to preserve editorial integrity. But with TV stations facing increased competition and pressure on advertising revenue, the barriers that shielded news programing from such deals are falling. Product placement, media and branded entertainment agencies say they are increasingly being pitched opportunities from local stations to integrate their clients' products into news programing in exchange for buying commercial time or paying integration fees.

"There are more local news stations that are incorporating brands into news in innovative, cutting-edge ways," said Aaron Gordon, president of entertainment marketing firm Set Resources Inc. "The line, which has always been black and white in terms of what's news and what's commercials, is now being blurred...."

(clip)

...MORNING NEWS SHOWS

"We're all trying to find ways of integrating commercial messages into content that satisfy the audience and advertisers without hurting our product," KRON president and general manager Mark Antonitis said. "When you're an independent, you've got to do what you can to survive. You bank on your credibility as a news organization every day, but you also have to be successful as a business. You have to be creative for your advertisers without compromising the credibility of your news organization."

Most stations are focusing their efforts on morning news shows, where lifestyle segments allow for more integration opportunities without sounding as many alarm bells with viewers as it might if product integration popped up in the hard-news portions of their newscasts. At present, full-fledged brand integration into news programing appears to be limited to local news, but some marketing experts suspect that the network morning news shows won't be far behind. "We are already seeing an erosion of the 'editorial wall' in network newsrooms, particularly for morning news and newsmagazines," said Jim Johnston, partner at the law firm Davis & Gilbert, which represents both media agencies and entertainment clients.

(much more at links below)

Page 1
<http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=televisionNews&storyID=2006-03-16T032144Z_01_N15356493_RTRIDST_0_TELEVISION-NEWSCASTS-DC.XML&archived=False>

Page 2
<http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=televisionNews&storyID=uri:2006-03-16T032144Z_01_N15356493_RTRIDST_0_TELEVISION-NEWSCASTS-DC.XML&pageNumber=1&summit=>

Page 3
<http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=televisionNews&storyID=uri:2006-03-16T032144Z_01_N15356493_RTRIDST_0_TELEVISION-NEWSCASTS-DC.XML&pageNumber=2&summit=>