The Federal Communications Commission today announced its Enforcement Bureau has fined Journal Broadcast Corp., owner Las Vegas ABC affiliate KTNV, $115,000 for violating the Commission’s Sponsorship Identification Rule.
According to the FCC, KTNV aired “Special Reports” in 2009 that were actually paid ads for car dealers without disclosing the reports were paid for.
“Broadcasters are not allowed to deceive the public by presenting commercial announcements or other paid programming in the guise of news or editorial content,” Travis LeBlanc, chief of the FCC Enforcement Bureau said. “Transparency is especially crucial in a situation like this one where a pseudo news report invites viewers to rely on their perception of the station’s independence and objectivity when, in fact, the message has been bought and paid for by an undisclosed third party.”
The FCC said an ad agency paid KTNV to produce ads about liquidation sales at Dodge, Chrysler, Jeep, Nissan and Hyundai dealerships in Las Vegas.
KTNV formatted the commercials in the style of news reports, which featured a KTNV staff person on location at the dealerships posing as a journalist. She held a microphone, asked questions of management concerning the details of the sales, and identified herself as “reporting on behalf of channel 13.” The announcements were headlined “Special Reports” and aired adjacent to the local weekend news. The announcements gave the appearance of being a news item, and KTNV did not disclose that they were actually sponsored and paid for by the car dealerships.
Under the terms of today’s settlement, Journal admits that it violated the Sponsorship Identification Rule. As part of the settlement, Journal will also pay a civil penalty of $115,000 and will implement a three-year compliance plan. Journal must file a compliance report with the Bureau within three months and then every year for three years.
TVSpy has asked KTNV for comment. We will update when we hear back.