Blurring the line between news and ads
JEERS TO GMA News Online for failing to identify whether one of its articles was a news report or an advertisement.
Filed under the site’s Science and Technology section, the article titled “16,000 mAh Mi Power Banks on flash sale April 24” indicated that the product will be sold on an online shopping site starting 12 noon. The article also described the basic specifications of the product, and provided a link to the product’s webpage where its specifications and other qualities were further discussed or shown in detail. The link to the online shopping site where the product will be sold was also embedded in the article.
The absence of any marker that this piece was a paid advertisement or sponsored content makes it seem like a regular news item. Readers may arrive at this conclusion also because of the byline included in the article.
It was Twitter user @ceso who informed the Center for Media Freedom & Responsibility (CMFR) of the article.
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Our apologies if our article was misleading to readers. We simply wanted to share information that we thought was relevant to consumers. In retrospect, it lacked the critical perspective necessary for a proper news article. We have discussed this and taken appropriate measures to prevent this from happening again.