Digital Leads The Way on Full Disclosure

While in Chicago on earlier this month I had the misfortune of tuning into the WBBM TV early morning news broadcast. While I had no stopwatch to measure precisely, here’s my estimate of the breakdown in content of the 6AM to 7AM news hour:

6 minutes: news
20 minutes: ads
34 minutes: infomercial for Sonic Burger

The 34 minute bit was an absolutely horrifying whore out of broadcast journalism to support the opening of the first Sonic Burger in the ChicagoLand area. Now, if you are like me you are thinking, well effin la-dee-dah, another burger joint. But WBBM will have none of such cynicism. They had multiple reporters on the scene, an interview with the manager, and a happy talk segment during which one of the anchors endorsed Sonic’s decision to have a tasty 900 calorie burger on its menu because, I’ll paraphrase, WTF, you only live once.

Between each segment of the infomercial there was cinema verite of groups of consumers happily eating burgers. Presumably of the 900 calorie variety. I was interested to note the paucity of heavy people in the film as well – just loads of nice, fit, wholesome Midwestern people. The anchors drank from Sonic cups on the set, talked about how much fun it is to eat in a drive in, how delicious the food is, how it’s great to eat fast food, the unmitigated brand prostitution was relentless.

I am told by a coworker that the hour I saw was not the only portion of the program devoted to Sonic Burger. Rather, they had been at it since about 3AM.

So, clearly one of two things are at work here. Either:

1. WBBM sold their morning news broadcasts to Sonic.
2. WBBM editors need to look in a dictionary or Wikipedia to see what the words news and journalism mean.

I am certain the truth is the former. That, in short, WBBM local news is for sale, which perhaps won’t surprise anyone reading this, but was never disclosed in the hour or so of infomercial I saw.

And it got me to thinking – there are so many people in the offline world that still view digital as the second sister of the TV business. That somehow we are second rate. Well, I simply want to point out the spirit of full disclosure online. That paid search listings are prominently marked “sponsored,” that brand videos are clearly marked as produced by brands, and the like. There is no attempt to put lipstick on the content pig on line. Maybe WBBM TV should learn from we second tierers. And get back to the business of covering news instead of paper fast food hat fashions.

Off my soapbox.

Thanks for reading, and don’t forget to write.