News or just paid for information?

What you need to know:

  • When the commercials are declared, like NTV did, there is a good trade-off
  • It is worthwhile to note that a lot of times, many media platforms carry paid for content as editorial news content without making the declaration or the distinction.

On May 25, a viewer sent me a screenshot of an interview on NTV by a popular host and a gentleman, likely from an NGO.

He drew my attention to the topic under discussion whose caption at the bottom of the screen was: ‘Covid-19 Effects: Violence against children rises”. In the top left corner was the word ‘Sponsored’ in block letters.

The screenshot was accompanied by two questions:
l Was the sponsored tag an error or was it a declaration?
l What do you think of the idea of a sponsored interview as part of the news?

I put the first question to NTV head of news Josephine Karungi who responded that the interview was indeed sponsored so the tag was no error.
I should say this is very much in line with the NMG Editorial Policy Guidelines that have a strict recommended treatment for commercial content.

It states thus: “…all advertisements and advertising-related material will be signposted as such.” It also places responsibility for this content as follows:
“The editor shall assume responsibility for all matter, including advertisements, published in the print media or broadcast on radio or television.”

This means there should be a clear distinction between advertisements and editorial content, and that all commercial content must fit into the ethical guidelines as stipulated in the editorial policy document.

It is worthwhile to note that a lot of times, many media platforms carry paid for content as editorial news content without making the declaration or the distinction.

The result is that the reader, viewer and listener are unknowingly fed on commercial content which is skewed to reflect the desires of the one paying to get the information out. This has been most prevalent with radio talk shows and to some extent, television talk shows. It is also very much alive in some undeclared newspaper supplements. It is unethical.

Coming back to the second question, perhaps I shall rephrase it to what explains the placing of a commercially paid for interview in the middle of a news bulletin?

First, commercials in the middle of television or radio news is not a new phenomenon. We see it every day either promoting domestic use of items such as soap, cooking oil, etc, or high end items such as motor vehicles, sleek telephone handsets, etc.

Sometimes it is an event such as a concert, fashion show or beauty contest being promoted. Other times it is real estate/property being promoted for sale, lease or rent!
This is mainly because news bulletins tend to have the highest viewership and listenership so advertisers want their commercials to run at a time when they have the most pair of eyes and ears watching and listening.

In broadcast-speak, this is termed “prime time” and it tends to be between 7am and 8am when people want to know what is new for the day, and 7pm to 9pm when audiences want to know what happened during the day.

In the early years of journalism, especially print, there used to be a distinct wall between editorial and commercial – both in terms of content placement and operation. With time, the wall kept going down as the contribution of commercial revenue to the bottom line outstripped that of editorial content (copy) sales.

The walls have, however, always been less distinct when it comes to broadcast journalism because by its nature, it sells audiences to survive. Only public broadcasters like BBC, where British citizens pay direct tax contribution to fund its operations perhaps do not sell audiences to survive.

The tough economic times have made the media to pack more commercial content in the news package to maximise revenue. For newspapers, it has meant more display adverts in the first sections of the paper that primarily carry news and a revision of content to advertising ratio to create more space for commercials.

For broadcast, especially television, it has meant increasing the duration of news bulletins so that as much commercial content can be accommodated. It is this window that is now allowing even commercial “interviews” with predetermined questions to feature inside news bulletins.

So as long as the commercials are declared, as NTV did, there is a good trade-off. However when no declaration is made that an NGO spokesperson or a big corporate chief executive is being interviewed because they have paid for it, then it amounts to chequebook journalism in reverse.

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