Auwe! Product Placement on the News Anchor Desk...

     Another dismal development from television newsrooms--some are selling product placement.

    The news director at a Las Vegas commercial television station, Fox 5 TV, calls this a "non-traditional revenue source." http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2008/jul/21/eye-opener-pitch/

   Clearly visible in "two-shots" of the TV station's morning news anchors are cups of McDonald's iced coffee.

     Except there's not really iced coffee inside the cups--it's just something that looks like it and doesn't have to be thrown out at the end of the day.

     The cups are advertising vehicles for the McDonald's logo.

      McDonald's is laying out its fake-coffee and its money in the belief that this will spur morning viewers, getting ready to hit the road, to make a stop at its Golden Arches.

      Fox 5 TV in Las Vegas isn't alone in taking the money. There are reports that TV stations in at least three other cities have begun using product placement as a revenue stream.

      As bad as this is, at least the advertiser influence is right out in the open. What's worse is advertiser-controlled content masquerading as news. And that's happening at many more TV news stations across the country, particularly on morning newscasts.

      All the more reason to view and read information from media sources critically.