Hey, Lost Dogs, Hot Dogs… I gotta eat…..
This morning, the Today Show took us on an exclusive tour of the new Harry Potter theme rides (and stores) at Universal Studios in Orlando.
They sent down their best talent and a few roving crews for a series of live broadcasts from the exciting opening of this new theme park attraction – including a roller coaster!
That was the big news today – that and the biggest ecological disaster in US history…..(oh yeah, that… but first, back to Orlando, live).
Now, if you were flipping your dials (if that isn’t too archaic a term in this digital age) this morning, you might have noticed that neither ABC nor CBS or CNN for that matter (nor Fox) gave much time or interest to the opening of the New Harry Potter Theme Ride. (Did you know that all the big stars from the movie were there???)
What NBC News, who produces The Today Show failed to include in their ‘news’ package was any mention that The New Harry Potter Theme Park was part of Universal Studios which is owed by NBC! In fact, the website is called www.nbcuni.com, and the uni in this case doesn’t stand for University (if only), but rather for… Universal Studios.
So the ‘news’ this morning, or what was cast as the ‘news’ was actually just one long ad for an NBC owned product. Maybe tomorrow, NBC’s Today Show will do a live special from the NBC Store, where Al Roker can show us all the great stuff that you can buy over here on 6th Avenue and 51st Street.
Oh…wait….
I nearly forgot….
Yesterday, The Today Show did a great segment on Last Chance Highway, a new series on Animal Planet about stray dogs that get adopted.
“LAST CHANCE HIGHWAY tells the story of passionate and determined individuals who come together on a mission to save and better the lives of abandoned and stray dogs. It’s a privilege to further their work and help save these animals,” says Marjorie Kaplan, general manager and president of Animal Planet. “People looking to adopt a pet are often hooked after just seeing a photo. Being there to witness that first face-to-face meeting and to see the impact that humans and dogs have on each other’s lives is incredibly powerful and something I think will inspire and entertain our viewers.”
Well, fair enough.
Sounds like a pretty good show.
No wonder the Today Show gave so much attention to it. Almost as much as to Harry Potter (well almost…)
But when you read the press release from Animal Planet for Last Chance Highway, here’s a paragraph that somehow didn’t make it into the Today Show segments:
LAST CHANCE HIGHWAY is produced for Animal Planet by Al Roker Entertainment. Al Roker, Tracie Brennan and C. Russell Muth are executive producers for Al Roker Entertainment.
Yes.
That Al Roker Entertainment,
Yes, That Al Roker.
Isn’t there something called ‘conflict of interest’, or does that term no longer mean anything any more?
Hey, Lost Dogs, Hot Dogs… I gotta eat…..
This morning, the Today Show took us on an exclusive tour of the new Harry Potter theme rides (and stores) at Universal Studios in Orlando.
They sent down their best talent and a few roving crews for a series of live broadcasts from the exciting opening of this new theme park attraction – including a roller coaster!
That was the big news today – that and the biggest ecological disaster in US history…..(oh yeah, that… but first, back to Orlando, live).
Now, if you were flipping your dials (if that isn’t too archaic a term in this digital age) this morning, you might have noticed that neither ABC nor CBS or CNN for that matter (nor Fox) gave much time or interest to the opening of the New Harry Potter Theme Ride. (Did you know that all the big stars from the movie were there???)
What NBC News, who produces The Today Show failed to include in their ‘news’ package was any mention that The New Harry Potter Theme Park was part of Universal Studios which is owed by NBC! In fact, the website is called www.nbcuni.com, and the uni in this case doesn’t stand for University (if only), but rather for… Universal Studios.
So the ‘news’ this morning, or what was cast as the ‘news’ was actually just one long ad for an NBC owned product. Maybe tomorrow, NBC’s Today Show will do a live special from the NBC Store, where Al Roker can show us all the great stuff that you can buy over here on 6th Avenue and 51st Street.
Oh…wait….
I nearly forgot….
Yesterday, The Today Show did a great segment on Last Chance Highway, a new series on Animal Planet about stray dogs that get adopted.
“LAST CHANCE HIGHWAY tells the story of passionate and determined individuals who come together on a mission to save and better the lives of abandoned and stray dogs. It’s a privilege to further their work and help save these animals,” says Marjorie Kaplan, general manager and president of Animal Planet. “People looking to adopt a pet are often hooked after just seeing a photo. Being there to witness that first face-to-face meeting and to see the impact that humans and dogs have on each other’s lives is incredibly powerful and something I think will inspire and entertain our viewers.”
Well, fair enough.
Sounds like a pretty good show.
No wonder the Today Show gave so much attention to it. Almost as much as to Harry Potter (well almost…)
But when you read the press release from Animal Planet for Last Chance Highway, here’s a paragraph that somehow didn’t make it into the Today Show segments:
LAST CHANCE HIGHWAY is produced for Animal Planet by Al Roker Entertainment. Al Roker, Tracie Brennan and C. Russell Muth are executive producers for Al Roker Entertainment.
Yes.
That Al Roker Entertainment,
Yes, That Al Roker.
Isn’t there something called ‘conflict of interest’, or does that term no longer mean anything any more?
9 Comments
Ian McNulty June 27, 2010
Michael, You’re way behind the times on this one I’m afraid. Flogging a dead horse. Urinating into the hurricane.
Haven’t you read the latest blog from the British Journalism Review, We are all in PR now, penned by the head of the BA public relations degree course at the University of Westminster?
I’m with Eric B on this. It disgusts me too. But if the head of journalism and mass communications at Westminster Uni, Prof Stephen Barnett, a leading expert on the ‘truth and accuracy’ model of journalism and member of the BJR editorial board, doesn’t see anything wrong with it, who are we to disagree?
Pingback: An Eclectic Mind » Interesting Links, June 26, 2010
Eric B June 21, 2010
The Harry Potter amusement park is news, because it is new. And it is big, and interesting, and entertaining, and tons of people are interested in it.
It is not the war in the mideast.
But “corporate” media and corporate news is about corporate interests as well. No disquising that. Time magazine pimps corporate media all the time. NBC, CBS, etc… all do it.
Is that ethical? It is a fine line. Very fine line, that gets crossed too many times for my comfort level. It actually disgusts me. The resources these corporate journalism outlets have are huge. And yet they waste them on shallow infotainment puff pieces that shove corporate hollywood pablum down the throats of children and adults.
Oh well.
As for Al Roker’s production company, I did not see that segment, nor the show… But I am aware of the journalism association Codes of Ethics, which clearly state that journalists should serve the public’s best interests, not their own business interests. That seems to me the most often violated ethics code, and this seems to fit right into that mold.
Nino June 20, 2010
Journalism is about giving people information that they can use, its a public service and apparently it worked. Call it what you want but for once journalism or not, television did something really good and the timing couldn’t be any better.
Yesterday there were a record number of over 5000 people waiting in the hot Florida sun for hours to get into Universal’s new attraction. To an economy seriously threatened by the oil spill NBC did a major service.
The extensive news coverage about the oil catastrophe is effecting the entire state of Florida. Even thou the spill hasn’t effected the beaches on the West coast, the extensive news coverage has. Journalist looking for something that isn’t there yet and trying to predict the future because they run out of stories about the present, have negatively and falsely effected local economies.
The true attraction here in reality is the weather. The state has to reinvent itself, the tourism industry can not rely on the beaches, and this could go on for decades.
Manmade attraction will have to replace mother nature for awhile, and NBC got the ball rolling.
Be assured that with the success of the Harry Potter attraction we’ll be seeing al lot of similar investments by all the theme parks as competition among them is fierce.
Hopefully this will go a long way in replacing jobs lost by the spill
Thanks NBC
$ June 20, 2010
Michael Rosenblum: “This is not about ‘journalism’ this time.”
Not about journalism?
Then why did you title this “The Four Hour Long Commercial – Is This Journalism?”
Seems to me you made clear it WAS about journalism from the get go!
Michael Rosenblum June 20, 2010
my mistake. I should have called it ‘is this ethical’?
Michael Rosenblum June 19, 2010
News or entertainment, pimping Al Roker’s production company’s work is a conflict of interest and in the interests of decency, news or otherwise, he should have recused himself. This is not about ‘journalism’ this time.
$ June 19, 2010
I find your cry for journalism hollow when I see the one sided, slip shod material your VJs produce who also claim they are doing journalism.
The Today Show is not just a news program.
It also covers entertainment.
If this had been the focus of the entire half hour of the network evening news show you might have a leg to stand on.
Not this time.
Eric B June 18, 2010
And not a word from any journalism associations. The same happens at all levels of broadcast journalism. And not a word from any journalism associatoins.