WGN Joins Tribune Promotion of Careerbuilder
Tribune-owned WGN is now promoting Tribune-owned Careerbuilder's new advertising campaign as a news story, without disclosing that both WGN and Careerbuilder are owned by Tribune Company, a disclosure required by the ethics policies that you can read on the right-hand column of this page.
WGN's News at Noon covered Careerbuilder's new campaign today as a Super Bowl story, but did not cover any of the other companies that will advertise during the Super Bowl, except for a passing mention of Anheuser-Busch. The WGN story included an interview with an executive from Cramer-Krasselt, an advertising agency with a fat Tribune contract, and an executive from Careerbuilder — in other words, a Tribune executive. The reporter was WGN's Muriel Clair.
The unethical report was then rebroadcast on Tribune-owned CLTV.
The WGN story comes on the heels of a Chicago Tribune "news" package that misled readers by suggesting Careerbuilder is the leading job-search site. It's not. But the Tribune Company seems to be marshaling all of its journalistic resources to make the deception come true.
Tribune journalists routinely defend themselves from bias charges by claiming that the Tribune Company and each of its subsidiaries are completely separate and distinct. Does Tribune expect us to believe it's merely a coincidence that both the Chicago Tribune and WGN newsrooms are hyping Careerbuilder's new advertising campaign right before its Super Bowl debut?
Are we supposed to believe that both Tribune-owned newsrooms independently decided that Tribune-owned Careerbuilder is the only newsworthy Super Bowl advertiser?
WGN's News at Noon covered Careerbuilder's new campaign today as a Super Bowl story, but did not cover any of the other companies that will advertise during the Super Bowl, except for a passing mention of Anheuser-Busch. The WGN story included an interview with an executive from Cramer-Krasselt, an advertising agency with a fat Tribune contract, and an executive from Careerbuilder — in other words, a Tribune executive. The reporter was WGN's Muriel Clair.
The unethical report was then rebroadcast on Tribune-owned CLTV.
The WGN story comes on the heels of a Chicago Tribune "news" package that misled readers by suggesting Careerbuilder is the leading job-search site. It's not. But the Tribune Company seems to be marshaling all of its journalistic resources to make the deception come true.
Tribune journalists routinely defend themselves from bias charges by claiming that the Tribune Company and each of its subsidiaries are completely separate and distinct. Does Tribune expect us to believe it's merely a coincidence that both the Chicago Tribune and WGN newsrooms are hyping Careerbuilder's new advertising campaign right before its Super Bowl debut?
Are we supposed to believe that both Tribune-owned newsrooms independently decided that Tribune-owned Careerbuilder is the only newsworthy Super Bowl advertiser?
Labels: advertorial, Careerbuilder, Chicago Tribune, CLTV, Tribune Company, WGN
posted by Chicago Cubune Watch permalink
