From Sunday’s New York Times:
NATIONAL
An article last Sunday about Mitt Romney’s wealth described incorrectly the horses Mr. Romney bought for his wife, Ann. They are warmblood horses, not thoroughbreds.
Okay then. Glad we sorted that out.
You know that bubbly toy expert you just saw on one of the TV morning shows?
She’s a shill.
From NPR’s On the Media:
As product placement becomes pervasive in TV and movies, the line between content continues to blur. It turns out that even TV news is getting into the game of embedded advertising, often crossing the line into the illegal practice of “payola”, when “experts” tout products they are being paid to promote with no disclosure.
The segment featured an interview with Washington Post reporter Paul Farhi about his recent piece headlined “Despite law against it, stealth commercials frequently masquerade as TV news.”
Lede:
Alison Rhodes is passionate about child safety, and in hundreds of TV news interviews, the self-styled “Safety Mom” has talked up products designed to increase it. During a segment on WTTG’s morning news last year, for example, Rhodes showed off a home electronic monitor made by ADT and a backpack with a built-in alarm known as the iSafe bag.
“It’s amazing,” she gushed to Fox5 host Tony Perkins about the backpack. “It really is amazing.”
What neither Rhodes nor WTTG mentioned to viewers was this: The companies Rhodes mentioned on the air had paid her to plug their products. In effect, Rhodes’s appearance was a kind of stealth commercial dressed up as a traditional product-review interview.
Representative sample:
And it’s not just local affiliates that broadcast these ads in sheep’s clothing – network programs like NBC’s Today show also participate in the plugapalooza:
A few weeks after her appearance on WTTG, Rhodes was on the “Today” show, talking about the same products she spoke about on Fox5. “Isn’t it amazing?” she said of the backpack as co-hosts Hoda Kotb and Kathie Lee Gifford looked on.
The media companies that orchestrate these appearances routinely say they disclose the sponsor relationships involved. But the media outlets tend to be less transparent.
To summarize: Caveat viewer.
Originally posted on the Newer! Improveder! Sneak ADtack!
Boston’s ABC affiliate WCVB-TV has officially entered the retransmission wars.
From The Boston Channel website:
Information Relating To Negotiations With Cable Operators
BOSTON — NOTICE TO CABLE SUBSCRIBERS:
WCVB-TV Channel 5’s parent company, Hearst Television, is currently negotiating a renewal of its carriage agreement with various cable operators, including Metrocast, RCN, Shrewsbury Electric and Cable, Beld/Braintree Electric, Norwood Light Broadband, Argent Communications and Southern Vermont Cable.
If negotiations are not successfully concluded before December 31, 2011, you may not be able to view WCVB on your local cable system, but you will be able to receive WCVB over the air and from other cable and satellite providers.
We will post updates on our discussions with these cable operators on TheBostonChannel.com.
Look for other local TV stations to jump on the pig pile soon.
The Iowa airwaves are stacked up like LaGuardia with political ads right now (and for the next few weeks). Here’s a nutshell review:
• It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s Romney’s Super PAC (via MSNBC’s First Read): Romneyite Super PAC Restore Our Future has two ads up in Iowa whacking Newt Gingrich:
Congressional ethics violations, Freddie Mac payoffs, amnesty for illegal immigrants, canoodling with Nancy Pelosi on climate change – the full Newtron bomb. Plus, a microsite: Newtfacts.com.
All the carpet(bagger)-bombing money can buy.
• Romney on Moral Responsibility (via Politico’s Morning Score):
Whatever.
• The Rick Santorum Experience. First ad from Santorum, second from Santorumite PAC Red, White, and Blue Fund:
Nuf ced.
• Rick Perry & Thrust new ad:
It’s a total Who Struck John in Iowa.
Enjoy.
Facebook founder/weasel Mark Zuckerberg is once again insulting our intelligence by trying to mask his intelligence-gathering about us.
From Friday’s New York Times:
Your Life on Facebook, in Total Recall
Remember those karaoke videos from three years ago that somehow wound up on Facebook? They were embarrassing for the few hours they spent at the top of your Facebook profile, and then they were buried under a cascade of new updates.
But on Thursday, Facebook started rolling out a revamped profile feature called Timeline that makes a user’s entire history of photos, links and other things shared on Facebook accessible with a single click. This may be the first moment that many of Facebook’s 800 million members realize just how many digital bread crumbs they have been leaving on the site — and on the Web in general.
Zuckerberg, who – let’s not forget – thinks you’re an idiot, “described it as a way to get a more comprehensive portrait of someone than by simply reading updates or looking at a profile picture: ‘We think it’s an important next step to help tell the story of your life.'”
And an important next step to help Zuckerberg market the story of your life.
As usual with Facebook, it’s pretty much out of your hands how this will work: “Eventually all profiles will be switched to the new look, though the company is not saying when. And there will be no switching back.”
But there is some back-scratching from the Times:
To Facebook’s credit, the site lets people edit their life stories and decide which items on their Timelines to hide. And once a switch is made, a user has seven days to review what will be displayed on the page before making it public.
That’s classic Facebook: Make it as hard – and time-consuming – as possible to control your information on the site.
Faceshnooks of the world – unite!
An outfit called AmericanLP has launched an ad campaign sure to please the Freedom Fries set. The liberal Super PAC’s TV spot features footage of Mitt Romney speaking French in a promotional video for the 2002 Winter Olympics. Superimposed at the bottom of the screen is closed-captioning for the Romney-impaired. (Transcript here.)
In a press release, AmericanLP founder TJ Walker provided this explanation:
“This ad is payback for Republicans mocking John Kerry for his French-speaking abilities in ads like this one in 2004 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDq8bEjhs7Q. Let’s face it, since 2000, the Republican Party has become the “Stupid Party” and nothing says ‘hoity-toity elitist intellectual’ like the ability to speak French.”
And nothing says sophomoric like these kinds of ads.
Postscript: TechPresident links to this piece in Le Figaro:
Mitt Romney raillé pour sa maîtrise du français
Mots clés : Newt Gingrich, Investiture Républicaine, French Bashing, Élection Américaine, Primaire Républicaine, France, États-Unis, Romney Mitt, John Kerry
Par lefigaro.frPublié le 14/12/2011 à 18:49 Réactions (39)
VIDÉO – Une association démocrate a décidé d’utiliser le sentiment anti-français d’une partie de l’électorat conservateur américain en diffusant à la télévision une vidéo montrant le candidat républicain Mitt Romney parlant français.
Translation upon request.
Thursday Boston Globe, Metro Page 2:
Tenant in fatal Worcester fire arrested
A tenant of a Worcester three-decker, where a firefighter died last week after rushing into the burning building to look for the man, was arrested on Tuesday on unrelated warrants and interviewed about the blaze, authorities said.
Ronald Robbins, 21, who had been living at 49 Arlington St., was arraigned yesterday in Worcester Central District Court on charges that he violated his probation, which stemmed from convictions for assault and battery and violating a restraining order, prosecutors said. A not guilty plea was entered on his behalf.
Thursday Boston Herald front page:
He was under strict orders not to leave the house after school. But 11-year-old Jared Flanders neatly knotted his tie, climbed on his bike and went to pay his last respects to fallen Worcester firefighter Jon Davies at a funeral home down the street yesterday.
Jared didn’t know the hero jake who died after rushing into a blazing triple-decker last week. Yet, the boy’s kind-hearted salute lifted the spirits of firefighters attending Davies’ wake.
Read the Herald story. This kid is great. And thanks to the local feisty tabloid, every news outlet in town now knows it.
Just a matter of time before Jared goes national.
See you then.
Full disclosure: The hardworking staff could only stand watching the first hour of last night’s Republican presidential primary debate, but we did pick up some slop from Fox News on the second hour.
The GOP Magnificant Seven gathered in Sioux City, Iowa last night for what was billed as the Kitchen Sink Standoff, but turned out to be the Disposall Debate.
From our notebook:
• If you chose “conservative” for your drinking game, you were knee-walking by 9:20. See: Newt Gingrich (R-Pretty Conservative).
• “Let’s take a step back” are the first words out of Mitt Romney’s mouth. Hey, Mitt (R-Moonwalk): Republican voters want a candidate who steps into his opponents.
• Michele Bachmann insists that she had always “meant what I said and said what I meant.” Maybe she could get Horton to be her running mate.
• Rick Perry (R-Tim Tebow) says, “I’m kind of getting where I like these debates.” Too bad they kind of don’t like him.
• Bachmann accuses Gingrich of influence peddling. Gingrich accuses Bachmann of inference peddling.
• It’s 9:45. Do you know where Rick Santorum is?
• Rumpus over abolishing U.S. circuit courts that don’t fit conservative mold. Ron Paul (R-Austria) the most reasonable candidate on the stage.
• Huh?
• Fox News has more here.
• Goodnight, God bless America, and God bless YouTube.
From Thursday’s Wall Street Journal front page:
E-Book Readers Face Sticker Shock
Cheap new e-readers are expected to be one of the hottest gifts this holiday season. But new owners of Kindles and Nooks may be in for sticker shock on Christmas morning: The price gap between the print and e-versions of some top sellers has now narrowed to within a few dollars—and in some cases, e-books are more expensive than their printed equivalents.
Call it e-bait-and-switch.
Lots of hoopla about Mitt Romney’s quote in Wednesday Thursday morning’s New York Times:
Mr. Romney said voters should take a closer look at Mr. Gingrich’s history of policy ideas.
“Zany is not what we need in a president,” Mr. Romney said. “Zany is great in a campaign. It’s great on talk radio. It’s great in print, it makes for fun reading, but in terms of a president, we need a leader, and a leader needs to be someone who can bring Americans together.”
That was mother’s milk to the chin-strokerati, who went to town on Romney for his odd choice of words.
But as several Times commenters noted, the paper’s presentation wasn’t exactly kosher. Representative comment:
Check the video here.
The hardworking staff is all for beating these guys up when they deserve it, but make it a fair fight, eh?
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