CORPORATE CRIME REPORTER

WTOP Crossing the Corporate Crime Line
21 Corporate Crime Reporter 44, November 5, 2007

So, I’m driving home last Friday.

Listening to WTOP – the all news radio station in Washington, D.C.

Owned by Bonneville International Corporation.

And there are ads.

And there is news.

And there is sports.

And there is traffic and weather on the eights.

And then there is this – the evening rush hour sponsored by Boeing.

The whole hour – sponsored by our favorite corporate criminal – Boeing.

Yes, it is true, the NewsHour by Jim Lehrer is sponsored by the corporate criminal ADM.

And last week, at the National Press Building, the news magazine U.S. News and World Report held a forum on energy sponsored by the chemical industry. (See “U.S. News, Chemistry Industry Event at National Press Club,” 21 Corporate Crime Reporter 43(8), November 5, 2007, print edition only.)

And the line between news and corporate criminal advertising is blurring.

And it’s becoming increasingly difficult to tell the difference between news and propaganda.

But the corporate criminal Boeing sponsoring an entire hour of radio news?

It was a bit jolting.

Would WTOP allow some street criminal to sponsor the rush hour?

Probably not.

Why not corporate criminal sponsorship for the entire glass enclosed news center?

How about the Pfizer Glass Enclosed Nerve Center?

Here’s traffic reporter Lisa Baden sponsored by Coors?

Political reporter Mark Plotkin sponsored by Northrop?

Capitol Hill correspondent Dave McConnell sponsored by ExxonMobil?

You get the picture.

There is a slippery slope.

And then there is the fall.

And of course, the sponsorship never has anything to do with the news programing.

After all, there is an impenetrable Chinese wall between news and advertising.

WTOP general manager Joel Oxley did not return a call seeking details about the deal with Boeing.

WTOP sales manager Michael Spacciapolli wrote back saying “much of the information you are looking for we normally do not disclose.”

Downward.

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