Business/Financial Desk
| May 7, 2003, Wednesday
A
Respected Face, but Is It News or an Ad?
By MELODY PETERSEN (NYT) 2132
words
Late Edition - Final , Section C ,
Page 1 , Column 2
ABSTRACT
- Aaron Brown of CNN, Walter Cronkite and
other broadcast journalists have been hired
to appear in videos resembling newscasts
that are actually paid for by drug makers
and other health care companies, blurring
line between journalism and advertising;
Brown and Cronkite are new hosts of 'news
breaks' produced by WJMK Inc that are shown
on local public television stations between
regular programs; are replacing Morley Safer
of CBS; CNN says it is reviewing its
decision to allow participation of Brown,
who has not yet appeared in video; WJMK
documents show companies pay WJMK about
$15,000 in connection with segments and
other services and are allowed to edit and
approve videos; drug marketing company
Healthology hires journalists from local
television and radio stations to appear in
video Webcasts; Healthology programs are
available through Web sites of many large
newspapers, including The Los Angeles Times,
The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Miami
Herald; drug makers pay for Webcasts, which
feature journalists interviewing doctors and
patients about their products; government
officials say new progamming might run afoul
of federal drug regulations, which prohibit
drug makers from advertising experimental
medicines or promoting drugs for ailments
that have not been approved to treat;
critics of news media say videos mislead
viewers by packaging promotional material to
look like news; photos (M) Aaron Brown of
CNN, Walter Cronkite and other broadcast
journalists have been hired to appear in
videos resembling newscasts that are
actually paid for by drug makers and other
health care companies, blurring the line
between journalism and advertising.
Mr. Brown and Mr. Cronkite, the former
CBS News anchor, are the new hosts of video
''news breaks'' produced by a Boca Raton,
Fla., company called WJMK Inc. that are
shown on local public television stations
between regular programs. They are replacing
Morley Safer of CBS, who has appeared in
hundreds of the videos but has concluded,
according to a ''60 Minutes'' spokesman,
that the work does not meet the standards of
CBS News.
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