FCC Commissioner Recommends Policing of Fake News and Product Placement

Federal Communications Commission member Jonathan S. Adelstein decried the use of covert ad pitches in media and called for stricter product placement disclosure rules. I'm no fan of government intervention in media, but something needs to be done.

The fundamental problem for advertisers is that consumers are so bombarded with messages and marketing pitches that we just tune them out. These days, media is so fragmented, and consumers so distracted by it all, that it's really hard for advertisers to spend their way into even being noticed, let alone having impact.

Some advertising critics want an on-screen alert any time a product placement appears in programming. I don't think that's the issue. Fake news is a much bigger threat than product placements in sitcoms. People already take those with a grain of salt.

But when a paid representative for a company doesn't disclose that he/she is being paid to endorse a product that's nothing more than a big lie. Media better start policing itself because Big Brother is watching big-time.

So, does the regulation of 'fake news' extend to John Stewart and the Daily Show?

Look, I don't think the government has any constructive role to play in regulating media. The market needs to make decisions and we as media consumer just need to turn off stuff that isn't transparent and credible. That said, FCC sabre rattling may be a good thing in as much as it pushes the industry to do some real self-policing.