blurring the lines

It seems like everything we watch on television these days is a commercial. Even if you are Tivo-ing the program.

Sure, the show might say it's the Ellen DeGeneres show (which, as we all know, I love) or Martha or the Today's show or even a local news program, but it's just a veiled commercial. Product placement isn't new, and as more and more people are recording their shows sans commercial breaks, the stealthy placement of the Pepsi can or the character rolling up in a Range Rover has increased and expanded. But now, we are seeing entire shows taken over by companies.

Take Ellen's segment 'To spend or save,' based on the American Express motto with prizes and trips funded by the company. What's worse was Martha Stewart's entire show recently dedicated to showcasing eBay items. And every morning, the Today's show devotes entire segments to plugging certain brands, veiled as holiday tips.

And now, at least one local morning program has become entirely advertainment.

From Minnesota Public Radio: "This spring [Minneapolis/St. Paul television station KARE] will be the first in the nation to convert its long-running morning news show into a long-running commercial, called "Showcase Minnesota." You'll see anchor hosts sitting in comfy chairs, with guests snuggled next to them, to talk up the latest in food, fashion and gadgets. Guests will pay to be on the new show and the anchors will act like inquisitive hucksters."

Revenue, revenue, revenue. Sure, I got it.

But this trend makes me increasingly uncomfortable. Most people understand these shows to be entertainment or news (or in many cases, a combination of the two), not commercials. As the MPR story puts it, the shows become just an hour of segments sold to the highest bidder masquerading as programming. It's like those pages in magazines that are modeled after articles, but that say "Advertisement" quietly at the top so people understand what they are reading. Perhaps these shows should have the same tag. Right under the "Live" logo, it should say "Advertisement" or "Advertainment." Or more appropriately, the shows - really, just glorified infomercials - should stay on late night cable channels, rather than dressing up as a morning news program to push products.

It just seems like this is another piece of the degradation of news media, though it might be a stretch to call these programs news in the first place. But if you replace the morning news programs with commercials modeled after such shows and the mid-day entertainment shows with commercials - stealthily veiled as the Martha show - our world on television becomes nothing but commercials (and well, reality shows). I understand print media already has massive corporate pressures that often seep into the editorial, but if this type of advertorial TV program persists successfully, what happens to print media?