Wednesday, April 20, 2005

Firms Paid TV's Tech Gurus To Promote Their Products

You expect this kind of behavior in dirty world of politics (see Armstrong Williams) but I am shocked.. yes SHOCKED I say... to see this sort of behavior in the otherwise squeaky-clear world of TV gizmo reviews.

If you can't trust the gizmo reviewer, then indeed the republic is doomed.

Here is my favorite quote:

"Asked if he owed viewers a disclosure of his corporate clients, Greenberg said: "I have never accepted payment to place a product on NBC News." As for other news shows, "I have never accepted payment to say nice things about a product in any venue." He said manufacturers hired him as "a spokesperson who could talk credibly and understandably about consumer products," but that he would no longer accept payment for appearances on local shows. "

Huh? He wasn't paid to just say nice things about a product.. he was paid to CREDIBLY say nice things about a product.

Firms Paid TV's Tech Gurus To Promote Their Products
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A3110-2005Apr19.html