- The piece discusses the issue of sponsored content in local news broadcasts.
- It highlights how local news is important for communities and a major source of revenue for stations.
- The video shows examples of sponsored content blending into broadcasts, including lifestyle experts promoting products.
- The lack of clear labeling and disclosure is a concern.
- Local stations have set up templates for shows built around sponsored content.
- Local businesses can pay for interviews where they can script the questions and receive positive promotion.
- Sinclair faced a fine for broadcasting segments promoting the Huntsman Cancer Institute without indicating they were sponsored.
- The video also criticizes the promotion of expensive and medically dubious treatments or devices in local news broadcasts.

- The video discusses the promotion of questionable medical products on local TV shows.
- Examples include a device called The Phoenix, marketed as a therapeutic massager but not FDA approved for treating erectile dysfunction.
- Another example is the Mona Lisa Touch, a laser treatment for vaginal atrophy, which was promoted despite FDA safety alerts.
- Stem cell therapies were also promoted as treatments for various conditions, despite not being approved by the FDA.
- The video highlights the blurred line between news and sponsored content on these shows.
- The creators of the video even successfully promoted a fake medical product called The Venus Veil on local TV shows.
- The lack of skepticism and critical questioning by the hosts is concerning.

The video discusses the issue of local news stations compromising their integrity by promoting affordable and non-invasive products without proper scrutiny. The host questions the decisions of station owners and emphasizes the importance of maintaining the integrity of local news.

The text discusses the problem of sponsored content in local news broadcasts. It highlights how local news is important for communities and a major source of revenue for stations. The lack of clear labeling and disclosure is concerning. The video shows examples of sponsored content blending into broadcasts and criticizes the promotion of questionable medical products. The video also highlights the blurred line between news and sponsored content. The lack of skepticism and critical questioning by the hosts is concerning. The video emphasizes the importance of maintaining the integrity of local news.

John Oliver explains why the integrity of local news is so important, how sponsored content could damage that integrity, and why the Venus Veil is so much more than a blanket! (It’s not.)

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Our main story tonight concerns local news.

The trusted place people go to find traffic, weather, and here in New York, the single greatest 10 seconds of television this city has ever produced.

At 11, pay more at the grocer, but getting less will tell you how to get the most.

She sadly retired in 2012 and has been missed every day since.

Because if any city needs a news anchor with an ability to say, the fuck are you doing?

We've talked about local news a lot on this show, particularly regarding just how important it is to any community.

We are constantly featuring local news investigations in our stories, and it isn't just important in a civic sense, it's a major moneymaker for stations.

Nextstar, 1 of the biggest owners of local stations, said they earned nearly half their advertising revenue from spots aired during local news programming.

But the need to both inform a community and make money has always been tricky to reconcile, as you can tell from this 1960s clip of Baltimore's Channel 11 News.

In Chicago today, white mobs threw rocks and bottles at civil rights demonstrators.

That story after this message about Masha's ham.

And all ham lovers know that Masha's hams are the best you can buy.

Okay, that is a very awkward transition to have to make.

To go from teasing a story about a racist mob with a Masha's ham logo on your desk, to a man who is, no matter what he says, definitely fucking that ham.

Why would you do that when instead, you could be fucking Honeysuckle White's fresh ground turkey?

The only ground turkey that's 93 percent lean and 100 percent fuckable.

Now clearly, maintaining journalistic independence from advertisers is critically important.

So important, in fact, it's frequently referred to as the Church-State Wall.

And the FCC has rules requiring broadcast stations to announce when content has been sponsored or paid for in any way.

Unfortunately, many local stations have either completely broken those rules or violated the spirit of them through a practice known as sponsored content.

It's where advertising is blended directly into the broadcasts, and it's both more widespread and harder to detect than you might realize.

So tonight, let's talk about sponsored content.

And let's start with the stuff that seems essentially harmless.

People getting paid to hawk products on TV.

There is an industry of lifestyle experts that do this, and here is 1 of them explaining the process to potential clients.

Brandigration is where a brand, its product, and the messaging are all worked together within the content of a show in a pre-planned manner.

With so many shows offering integrated content, it can be hard to choose, but let's start with local.

Okay, we have a method that helps me get interviews in a snap.

In an instant, we have access to shows across the nation that are ready for your content.

The only person I can summon with the snap of my fingers is George Clooney.

I'm just showing people how I can summon you with a simple snap of my fingers.

I gave you that power in a limited capacity, John.

But the truth is, Michelle didn't just have the power to make people appear out of thin air.

She also, crucially, had the power to make them play along as she hawked horrifying products like these.

These are the new French's Crispy Jalapenos.

The 1 fun idea is to use it in this jalapeno cheeseburger dip.

This is seriously everything you love about a cheeseburger in dip form.

It's the Velveeta Shells and Cheese Life-Size Liquid gold fountain.

Okay, so a few things I love are Doritos, melted cheese sticks, and nachos.

And now, there is a way you can enjoy them all in 1.

It is a totally new way to experience Doritos.

That's a really fun twist on a snack idea, isn't it?

Now, that product has since been discontinued, probably because it looks less like a snack and more like someone deep-fried a fidget spinner.

And you probably assumed Michelle was getting paid to do that, but interestingly, the station was also getting paid to have her on.

And while the FCC requires sponsored content like that to be labeled, it has no requirements for exactly how or for how long.

So, for instance, in the case of Doritos Loaded, The disclosure came at the very end of the segment for just 2 seconds, with another barely visible reference in the credits at the end of the program for 4 more.

Which is, incidentally, about the same amount of time Doritos loaded stay in your body before being forcibly ejected from whatever orifice they're closest to.

This practice can be so lucrative that many big chains have now set up templates for local shows built around sponsored content.

Scripps has Morning Blend, Tegna has Great Day, NextStar has Daytime, and Sinclair has what I can only assume is The Muslim's Attack at Dawn.

And it's not just brand experts joining by satellite.

Sometimes, local businesses will pay for an interview where they can script the questions and make sure that they're presented glowingly.

Until recently, he was a financial advisor in Charlotte, North Carolina, who was on the local show Morning Break all the time and always introduced in very positive terms.

He's the president and CEO of Hefner Financial.

He's a best-selling author, and just an all-around great guy.

Thank you so much, sir, for being back with us.

We're so glad to have you back, because you're gonna help our folks get financially fit.

That level of enthusiastic co-signing seems pretty convincing, until you remind yourself the station was being paid to say those things about him.

It's the reason no 1 who gets a birthday cameo from Gary Busey thinks, Wow, Gary Busey hopes I make it to 156 years old.

Instead, they think, Wow, Craig just wasted $350 getting Gary Busey to wish me a happy birthday?

And it's worth noting that Hefner and the firm he worked for not only were ordered to pay a million dollars in an arbitration case over claims he lost retirees' money, But 22 plaintiffs recently sued him, seeking damages related to the loss of 2.7 million dollars of their investments, with 1 of them even saying that he trusted Hefner because he believed the longest-running Charlotte station would invite on trusted experts.

And yeah, of course you would believe that.

And it doesn't stop at these local lifestyle shows.

Companies have also bought their way directly into local news broadcasts.

Back in 2017, Sinclair faced a 13.3 million dollar fine from the FCC over segments promoting the Huntsman Cancer Institute, which were broadcast more than a thousand times on local Sinclair stations with no indication whatsoever that they were sponsored.

Some of these segments aired during the evening news.

And in hindsight, the tone of the reports were suspiciously upbeat.

This complex machine is eradicating cancer without the invasive procedures.

For patients like Jeff, this is welcome news.

If you're gonna have prostate cancer, this is the time to have it.

In Salt Lake City, Utah, Mark Cabell reporting.

No time like the present to have prostate cancer.

And despite how he signed off there, is Mark Cabell actually reporting?

Because in retrospect, it seems more like Mark Cabell is parroting the absurdly sunny cancer propaganda of his business daddy's favorite money friend.

But I will say this, at least that is an instance of a broadcaster acting so egregiously, the FCC was able to take action.

A lot of the time, stations are doing just enough to stay the right side of the FCC, but that does not mean that they're not doing massive harm to their credibility.

Because even when a sponsorship is properly disclosed, I'd argue that there are certain businesses local stations should not be selling themselves out for, especially when it comes to medicine, because a surprising number of segments on these shows are enthusiastic, uncritical showcases for expensive treatments or devices featuring claims that are, to put it charitably, medically dubious.

Like this product, which made it onto a regular morning newscast in Utah.

Today we're talking about technology aimed to help men with a serious issue.

Stephanie and Dustin Wolf, the co-inventors of the world's first clinically tested home use shockwave device to treat electile dysfunction and cellulite.

So the Rocket works on the principle of low intensity sound wave therapy, which has actually been around in Europe for about 25 years.

It's very effective, it's safe, and it's the technologies FDA recognized.

First, that vibrating taint missile looks utterly terrifying.

And while it has since been rebranded from the rockets to the Phoenix, I'm not sure put this bird that destroys itself in fire near your penis is really much of an upgrade.

But second, what does FDA recognized even mean there?

It definitely does not mean it's FDA cleared, much less approved.

And the FDA actually told us the Phoenix is registered with them as a therapeutic massager, though, not as a device to treat erectile dysfunction.

And at this point, I legally have to tell you, the manufacturer of The Phoenix says they make no explicit claims about treating ED.

Which is a little odd, because their own website claims The Phoenix offers...

All of which they presumably feel justifies its price tag of, holy shit, $879.

The point is, if you're going to allow that product into the body of your local newscast, you might want to have some very pointed questions ready and not end the segment like this.

Of course, if you want to get more information, where they find it online, guys?

Get that help you need for whatever ailment you've got right there.

Use the rocket for whatever ailment you've got, especially if that ailment is having, let's say, around $879 too many.

And the thing is, that is far from the only weird medical product that's been presented uncritically during sponsored segments.

Denver's Mile High Living featured a spa owner promoting this exciting new treatment.

Mona Lisa touches the first FDA-cleared laser to treat the vagina, and in doing so, it treats the symptoms of vaginal atrophy.

No, it's typically what you'll feel are mild vibrations.

I tease, the next day you might feel like you have a sunburned vagina, but it's just healing.

It's just your typical everyday sunburned vagina.

So, really just your typical everyday laser-roasted genitalia, which is just healing.

From the laser you deliberately burned it with, it being the inside of your vagina.

Your run-of-the-mill, laser-charred vagina.

And if using a laser as a medical pseudo-dildo seems like a scary thing to do, you have good instincts.

Because over a year before that segment aired, the FDA issued a safety alert making it clear that they have...

And the problem is, segments with dicey medical claims are just everywhere.

Recently, the FDA has warned about the use of unapproved stem cell therapies, which they say can be harmful.

But you would not know that to watch some of these shows.

Here is a segment from Good Morning Texas, featuring a doctor who's been disciplined multiple times by the state medical board for separate issues, claiming his stem cell therapy can treat things like MS and Parkinson's, despite the fact that stem cells have never been approved to treat any neurological disorder.

Here is a naturopathic doctor making similarly baseless claims on a station in Arizona.

So what kind of conditions are you treating with this?

So We can treat so many different kinds of conditions.

We can do it to joints, we've been doing a lot of that.

We do a lot of systemic things as well, including had a patient with Crohn's disease recently, had a patient with heart disease who was in severe heart failure.

Both of them within a week of getting these stem cells are just feeling great and improved to almost normal.

That card there suggested he can treat Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, autism, MS, and ALS.

It seems the only thing his stem cells can't do is help that station proofread their list of conditions can stem cell therapy benefits.

Because other than that, got you they covered have.

And look, while there is no way of knowing exactly how many people are watching these shows as they air, that's not really the point.

As this marketing executive at Nextstar explained to potential advertisers.

Most people think, okay, so I go on the TV show.

I'm gonna tell you right now, when you actually go on and do that, that isn't even the cake.

At the end, you're gonna have a 4 or 5 minute video file.

This isn't how you represent cake and icing.

This is how you bring a mash's ham to orgasm.

You give it the old wiggle and squeeze, and then a twist and a snap.

I was just trying to show people how to bring a mash's ham to orgasm.

-♪ ♪ I guess that's good information to have.

The point is, though, that marketing executive is right.

And companies will take that video and run with it.

Remember that naturopathic doctor who claims stem cells are a treatment for Alzheimer's and autism?

Here is his website, which proudly features the many times he was given an uncritical platform on trusted local TV.

And you might think viewers should be smart enough to approach anything on these shows with skepticism.

The thing is, though, many of these stations also swap figures between their newsroom and their sponsored content shows.

At ABC4 Utah, for instance, Surae Chin is both the channel's chief medical correspondent and a host of the sponsored content show, Good Things Utah.

And it really does feel like a line is getting blurred there.

And look, ideally, stations wouldn't engage in this practice at all, or At the very least, their disclosures would be harder for their viewers to miss, and they do significantly more work to make sure that if they are letting someone buy their way onto their channel and present something as real, that it's not, in fact, total nonsense.

Because right now, it's far too easy to make a ridiculous product that makes outlandish claims and get it onto local TV.

We started a company called Venus Inventions and created something called The Venus Veil, an absurd medical product based on technology that absolutely doesn't exist.

We set up this website and even hired an actress to brandigrate the shit out of the Venus Veil into shows it had no business being on.

I am so excited to talk with Erica Hernandez with the Venus Veil, a revolutionary new product on the line.

It is the world's first sexual health blanket.

And I would love to tell you that it was difficult to get on, but it really wasn't.

And remember, that's their chief medical correspondent.

And it seems striking that she didn't have any follow-ups on claims that we made about the veil that you would hope a medical correspondent would immediately take issue with.

The veil is being designed with the hope that it will precisely draw out the natural alkaline undercurrents of the vagina and Initiate a low-grade state of what we call micro death, which sounds incredibly scary But that's actually just restarting that area's natural life cycle.

It's using this field of magneto genetics I was talking about and also a technology that's been around for a really long time that was pioneered in Germany about 80 years ago.

So this is full of cutting-edge technology, but it just looks like a blanket.

Also, technology that was pioneered in Germany about 80 years ago, I would have some questions about that particular period in German history.

And I know that looks bad, but let's be fair here.

There was no way another station was gonna fall for this, right?

Because you wouldn't have let us pay to directly follow your 10 p.m.

That includes some pretty interesting technology.

So, the team behind The Veil was inspired by the field of magnetogenetics.

But basically, your blood is full of iron, but it's dispersed in such a way that it isn't affected by normal magnets.

So, The idea behind the veil is that with the right blend of proprietary magnetic fibers, you can create a self-contained magnetic field that re-stimulates blood flow and gets you feeling like your normal self again.

Or is that obvious bullshit that definitely shouldn't have been on in the same hour of coverage as the ceasefire in the Middle East, a shortage of lifeguards in local public pools, and an investigative piece on criminal justice and bail reform.

1 of these things is not like the others, and it's definitely our Nazi-era fuck blanket.

But surely, if you saw this blanket in person, in a studio, then you would know not to enthusiastically co-sign on the completely baseless claims being made right in front of you.

You would protect your viewers from that happening.

This is meant to treat sexual conditions, but a lot of people are really embarrassed to talk about their sexual health, right?

So, it was designed to be something that's really discreet and also really stylish, so you can have it in your home and it really I mean could it look less like a medical product?

Yeah no it doesn't look like that you know again it's 1 of those things I think a lot of people right now are looking to enhance their lives but they also don't want anything too invasive so

is something where again you're not needing a prescription or anything like that as

Because the truth is, None of this was nearly difficult enough to get onto TV, and it wasn't even that expensive.

This 1 cost $2,650, and this 1 only cost $1,750.

It was all shockingly affordable, And sadly, on some stations, didn't even look that out of place.

Because as we have said for years now, the integrity of local news is crucially important.

And there is real harm for everyone if that integrity is damaged.

So to the owners of these stations who are selling them out at a depressingly cheap price, I have a simple question.

If I may quote the words of a very wise news anchor, the fuck are you doing?

If you want to see our Venus Veil segment in full, the whole cake, if you will, you

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