WUSA charged D.C. for promos

WUSA-TV (Channel 9) charged the D.C. government as much as $100,000 annually to promote breast cancer awareness during the TV station’s newscasts, according to contracts The Washington Times has obtained.

For at least two years, from February 2002 to February 2004, news anchors at the Washington area’s CBS affiliate were required under the contract with the city to encourage viewers to learn more about breast cancer by visiting the station’s Web site. The reminders were designed to drive traffic to a banner ad on the Web site for the D.C. Department of Human Services, the contracts show.

WUSA also used one of its news anchors in commercials paid for by the D.C. government to promote literacy, according to the contracts, which The Times obtained through a Freedom of Information Act.

The announcements appeared to be helpful reminders from the anchors when, in fact, the city government was paying for publicity for one of its agencies without the station telling its viewers.

The deals between WUSA and the government violate two commonly held tenets of broadcast journalism: TV stations should not use their newscasts to advertise products and services, and news anchors should not appear in paid commercials.

WUSA is not alone. Other stations around the nation, including some of WUSA’s competitors in the Washington area, for years have been engaged in deals that journalism ethicists call questionable.

The practice isn’t limited to television. For years, media critics have pointed out unusual alliances between advertisers and newspapers and radio stations.

The broadcast arrangements soon could come under the Federal Communications Commission’s scrutiny.

In August, the FCC announced plans to investigate the “pay-for-play” scandal that forced Sony BMG to pay $10 million to settle payola charges in New York. According to documents the state released after the settlement, Sony executives bribed radio station managers with expensive gifts to entice them to play songs by such performers as Jennifer Lopez and Jessica Simpson.

FCC Commissioner Jonathan S. Adelstein, a Democrat, has urged the agency to expand the scope of that probe into hidden commercialism in TV news.

“Some will tell you that if broadcasters and cable companies insist on further commercializing news and other shows alike, that is their business. But if they do so without disclosing it to the viewing public, that is payola, and that is the FCC’s business,” Mr. Adelstein said in a speech to the Media Institute, a nonpartisan journalism think tank.

Buddy Check imbroglio

Darryll J. Green, WUSA’s president and general manager, declined to discuss the D.C. government’s role in his station’s long-standing Buddy Check 9 program, which encourages female viewers to remind friends to conduct breast cancer self exams on the ninth day of the month.

In an e-mail, Mr. Green wrote, “I can tell you that the D.C. Department of Human Services is no longer a sponsor of Buddy Check 9. Our Buddy Check 9 reports refer our viewers to our own website wusatv9.com.”

The contracts The Times obtained indicate WUSA charged D.C. government $121,380 from Feb. 6, 2002, to Feb. 5, 2003, and $211,382.25 from Feb. 6, 2003, to Feb. 5, 2004, to become a “co-sponsor” of Buddy Check 9.

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