Ethics question ...

I've been in the newspaper business for more than 10 years, so I understand the ethics side of things, what to do and what not to do. But I only understand those ethics for newspapers.

Listening to the radio today, a certain program was about to end when one of the hosts says, "We have to thank the boys over at Podunk Restaurant, who supplied with all of these goodies today. Podunk is one of the best spots around town you can eat."

Now what makes that OK for radio? As we all know, we'd be crucified if we did it in print. To be honest, it doesn't bother me all that much, just wondering if any talking heads out there can tell me why it's different when we're all supposed to be "journalists."

 

Does the radio station ever cover the restaurant?

 

Only its beer softball league team.

 

It's advertising. The restaurant brings over food for the hosts for a plug.

 

Radio hosts are journalists?

 

I get that, and I get that there's more than one way to skin a cat, but it's something we do not do in our business. If a restaurant gives me a meal, I can't just throw it into my next column for a plug. It doesn't work like that. Or at least I hope it doesn't.

Like I said, apparently it's a different animal in radio.

 

Right. I'm not saying it's right or wrong, but it's certainly nothing new.

I worked at a place where they fired a bunch of guys for trading products and services for on-air plugs.

 

I hear that all the time on the radio here. I'm gonna demand a Baby Ruth for my next post, dammit.

 

When I did play-by-play for high school football, a local pizza place would deliver us a pizza at the start of the game. They were right across the street from the football field and we would mention they sent us fresh-made, 2 topping large for 5.99 until 10 p.m. tonight, and if you order now, you can pick up the pizza at halftime of the high school game.
Crap like that. I ate for free, they got in a plug (along with the commercials that aired during the pre-game show that they paid for) and I always saw people eating the pizza after halftime.
Ethical? Sure. They bought an ad, and the stipulation was that we shilled it live on the air.
Now, had there been no paid ad in the show, and they still wanted me to do this "as a favor", then...yeah, unethical.

 

If they pay for an ad, there's nothing unethical about it whatsoever. That's how radio works...

 

Hypothetical: What if rival pizza place pays for twice the ads and delivers twice the pizza. Do they get the on-air shoutout? Seems like a slippery slope.

 

It wouldn't have been up to me. It was a business deal. If they had paid more..yeah, they would have been the one to sponsor the pre-game show.

Right, I was just giving an example of how radio works. Maybe it's a trade/pay type of situation that we don't know about. That's all.