Changing A Tire For A Sponsor (and cash)

[Buffalo Soldier]

If you've been around the tv news business more than a year or two, you're probably familiar with the "sports challenge" segments of many local sportscasts.

It's when a member of the sports staff features a local athlete by accepting a challenge to play the star athlete at their own game whether it be tennis, volleyball, softball, pool, swimming, wrestling or whatever.

I think we can agree that it's a really lame concept because the real purpose of the "sports challenge" is not to feature the athlete at all. It's just a cheesy way to insert the sports guy's personality into the story.

They're usually the pits.

But wait - it gets worse.

At a local station (which will remain nameless, but not shameless) where the sports director regularly does these "sports challenge" segments, he recently profiled not an athlete, but a station sponsor. The "sports challenge" was to see if the sports director could change a tire faster than the mechanic at the car dealership which buys a lot of ad time on the station.

Of course, this was nothing less than a thinly disguised advertisement for the car dealership masquerading as a sports story. The story was suggested by the sales department, and the sports director was ordered by the GM to feature the sponsor in the "sports challenge."

This may be skirting FCC rules against disguising paid advertisements as news stories, but not by much. In any case, I found it an appalling breach of advertisers stepping out of the commercials and inserting themselves into the newscast.

[s'news]

It stinks.

[Sparky]

I gotta know ... who changed the tire faster - the sports dweeb or the mechanic? :rolleyes:

[Produce man]

The whole idea smells like a yeast infection.

[vuphinder]

"Try some of that "Ocean Spray Pure Cranberry Juice" found in the 3rd isle and the Harris Teeter on Old Jonesville Road to clear that yeast infection right up."

[The Fedora]

"Try some of that "Ocean Spray Pure Cranberry Juice" found in the 3rd isle and the Harris Teeter on Old Jonesville Road to clear that yeast infection right up."

Bwahaha

I LOVE Harris Teeter!

[rootboyslim]

Bwahaha

I LOVE Harris Teeter!

We call it The Teet!

[vuphinder]

We have the brand new mega stores that are called "Taj-ma Teeters"!

[Zero]

Back to the topic, why doesn't someone report them to the FCC? Does anybody have a link to the story?

[Scotch On The Rocks]

This was a QNI station wasn't it?

Not the first time it's happened.

[NotImpressed]

It's not an FCC violation. Please. If the station wants to run a story like that they have every right to. Learn the law before dragging the FCC into it.

[Buffalo Soldier]

If the station wants to run a story like that they have every right to.

I don't know if it's that black and white. True, they can cover any story without government interference, and should. But that's not the question. The question is whether this was a story or an advertisement. Was the proper editorial process followed? If it's an advertisement, suggested by and set up by the sales staff and directed by the GM (circumventing the newsroom editorial process) to please the sales staff, you have to ask, did they make an advertisement sale based upon this "story"? Was this "story" indeed nothing more than an ad? If it was an ad, then viewers were not told they were watching an ad. That would be in violation of FCC rules. No question about it. It's called fake news. And there are a lot of stations being taken to task for that right now.

Does this fit into that category? It's a good question. It might be just outside the lines, but I don't think anyone agrees that it's okay for a station to enter into this kind of "story" agreement with advertisers.

Yes, it's a QNI station.

[ewink]

It's not an FCC violation. Please. If the station wants to run a story like that they have every right to. Learn the law before dragging the FCC into it.
Sounds a lot like a thinly disguised VNR to me...

[Who Cares???]

I would think that a lot worse has happened over the years... How many new store openings, car dealerships, and crap have been shot over the years...???

[Paper Trail]

The state Division of Natural Resources pays a local TV station for control over the content of a news segment about outdoor life in West Virginia. (http://sundaygazettemail.com/News/200803270112)

By Andrew Clevenger
Staff writer

The state Division of Natural Resources pays a local TV station for control over the content of a news segment about outdoor life in West Virginia.

According to their contract with the Wildlife Resources Section of the DNR, Sinclair Media, which owns WCHS-TV and WVAH-TV, receives $90,000 annually to produce and air 52 90-second "West Virginia Wildlife" segments, as well as 30-second ads that lead into the segment.

In return, the state agency maintains editorial control over the final product.

"Segment scripts, eight 30-second commercials and 'West Virginia Wildlife' promos must be approved and accepted by WRS staff prior to airing," the 2005 contract states. "WRS will provide topics and set up interviews on location."

The segment won a regional Emmy award in 2007 in the "Health/Science/Environment - News" category.

While the station does acknowledge the sponsorship, there is no indication during the news broadcast that "West Virginia Wildlife" is any different from other news segments.

But unlike other advertisers, who might sponsor the station's weather coverage every night, DNR dictates its own coverage.

"We're paying a flat fee for that service," said wildlife section chief Curtis Taylor. "We're paying for a deliverable product."

The funds come from lottery money earmarked for state promotion and advertising, Taylor said.

" a service to the public, as I see it. It keeps them informed about where their license fees are going," he said. "I don't think you could get the same level of service with a PSA [public service announcement]."

Al Tompkins, the broadcast/online group leader for the Poynter Institute, a journalism organization in Florida known for continuing education and ethics resources, said sponsorship should buy only ad placement, not a newscast's content.

"I want to be clear I have no knowledge of this situation, so I cannot speak to this station's practice," Tompkins wrote in a recent e-mail. "But more generally: no, content should not be for sale; any sponsorships should be fully disclosed; [a] TV station should never hand over editorial control."

Sinclair Media submitted the only bid for the contract in November 2005, and the agreement has been extended twice for 2007 and 2008.

"I don't think I have any issues with the segment at all," said station new director Matt Snyder. "The DNR wanted a news station to show it in the best light possible....

"This is not an issue-oriented endeavor. This is a feature piece on West Virginia and all the great outdoors that it has to offer."

Despite the Emmy win in a news category, he said he doesn't view the segment as a news story.

"They don't tell us anything to report. They approve scripts because they want to make sure what we say and what we put on the air is correct."

Taylor said DNR chooses the topics.

"[DNR has] not only final say, but we put together a list of items we think should be covered. They don't come up with the items," he said.

In addition, the contract requires that the station cover two wildlife-related events, the National Hunting and Fishing Days celebration at Stonewall Jackson Lake State Park and the West Virginia Trophy Hunters Association Hunt Show in Charleston.

"This way, we can tell WCHS, 'We want you to go over and film youth challenge; we want you to go film archery; we think these are the most important points,'" Taylor said.

Roy Flynn, president of the Ohio Valley Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, said the judges who selected "West Virginia Wildlife" for recognition would have no way of knowing that the segment was paid for by a state agency.

"It really doesn't matter if it was contractually paid for by West Virginia," Flynn said. "When we get the piece, we're not looking at that.... Basically, they're judged on three criteria: content, creativity and execution. And that's what [judges] are looking for in the piece."

The contract with Sinclair Media is the latest in a series of arrangements of state-funded efforts to buy coverage for the DNR.

Bray Cary, CEO of West Virginia Media, said he inherited a $67,600 annual contract with the DNR for a segment - which was then called "Woods and Water/Fishing West Virginia" - when he bought WOWK-TV in 2002.

Cary said the decision not to enter a bid on the current contract was based on economics and not ethics.

"We didn't think it was enough value for the time in our newscast," Cary said. "We actually thought the content was legitimate content in terms of there's a lot of interest in hunting and fishing in West Virginia."

State records show the DNR signed a similar contract with MetroNews Radio Networks, a Charleston-based radio chain, in January 2006.

For more than $11,500, MetroNews agreed to produce and air 52 installments of a three-minute program titled "DNR Wildlife Resources Report," as well as 52 30-second commercials, all subject to DNR approval.

The TV contract specifies that $62,700 is for the cost of the ads, while $27,300 is for the news segments.

Taylor said he considers "West Virginia Wildlife" a success.

"People in my position in other states want to have something like that because it gets [our] message out so well," he said. "If we had the resources, maybe we'd have our own film crew and staff, but we don't."

[I]To contact staff writer Andrew Clevenger, use e-mail or call 348-1723.