KTVX wasn’t the only Utah station that got hit on Sunday. This “Last Week Tonight” segment is the sort of thing that’s going to live online for a very long time. It aired on “Good Things Utah,” which is “not produced or supervised by news because it is not a news program - it is a local lifestyle show which has always included sponsored advertiser content.”īoth Chin and Carlson - who have not responded to requests for a comment - are news staffers, so that distinction may be lost on viewers.Īnd I don’t know that it’s a good idea to stick to this defense and hope it will blow over.
“This segment had zero to do with ABC4 News or news content,” said Richard Doutre Jones, vice president and general manager of KTVX. The faux spokeswoman told Chin that the technology was “pioneered in Germany about 80 years ago,” and Oliver said, “I would have some questions about that particular period in German history.” (In 1941, the Nazis were riding high, having conquered most of Europe.)
Like, for instance, that the blanket would restart “the natural life cycle” of the vagina. “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,” Oliver said. The false claim was that the Venus Veil is a “sexual health blanket,” but it’s really a regular ol’ blanket.Īnd “Last Week Tonight” shared footage of a smiling Chin, who said she was “so excited,” interviewing the faux spokeswoman (actually a paid actress) about what Chin gushed was a “revolutionary new product.” The segment was seen by, at most, a few thousand viewers when it first aired “Last Week Tonight” reaches 3-4 million people across HBO’s platforms. It gets worse for Channel 4 and for Carlson’s colleague, Surae Chin, who’s both the station’s medical correspondent and one of the hosts of “Good Things Utah.” And footage of Carlson acting like a pitchman rather than a reporter demonstrates questionable ethics at best. Oliver’s follow on sketchy claims made by the Rocket’s manufacturers was devastating. Oliver gets in his first shot at KTVX with footage of anchor Brian Carlson gushing over a product billed as “the world’s first clinically tested, home use, shockwave device to treat erectile dysfunction and cellulite.” For the low, low price of $879.
Oliver said the stations are “doing massive harm to their credibility” with these segments, arguing that even when the sponsorships are adequately identified, “there are certain businesses local stations should not be selling themselves out for,” particularly when they air “enthusiastic, uncritical showcases for expensive treatments or devices featuring claims that are, to put it charitably, medically dubious.”
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TV stations do it all the time, and generally do their best to downplay the Federal Communications Commission-required disclaimers. Oliver’s main topic in Sunday’s show was sponsored content on local stations - segments paid for by advertisers that look sort of like news but are really commercials. Well, both deceptive and easily deceived. The station’s unforced errors left it looking more than just foolish - the news operation looked downright irresponsible, greedy and deceptive.
“Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” focused on “sponsored content” on local TV newscasts, and Utah’s ABC affiliate got hit twice. KTVX-Channel 4 was the butt of the joke on HBO on Sunday night, and station personnel have no one to blame but themselves.
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