Looks like Corey Greenberg's got some 'splainin' to do.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...2005Apr19.html

Firms Paid TV's Tech Gurus To Promote Their Products
By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, April 20, 2005; Page C01

Corey Greenberg, tech editor for NBC's "Today" show, appeared last
July to praise Apple's iPod as "a great portable musical player . . . the
coolest-looking one" and suggested a compatible device to "share your
music with other people." "This is the way to go," he declared.
"Let's cut the Apple commercial here right now, okay?" co-host
Matt Lauer interjected.
Lauer was onto something. Greenberg, an NBC contributor, confirmed
yesterday that he has received payments from Apple as well as Sony,
Hewlett-Packard, Seiko Epson, Creative Technology and Energizer Holdings,
charging $15,000 apiece to talk up their products on news shows. The
contracts were first disclosed by the Wall Street Journal.
NBC officials say they were unaware of these and similar financial
relationships and have tightened their policies. But Greenberg told The
Washington Post that since becoming a "Today" contributor in 2000, "I've
made NBC aware of my outside work. . . . I've been aboveboard with NBC."
Asked if he owed viewers a disclosure of his corporate clients,
Greenberg said: "I have never accepted payment to place a product on NBC
News." As for other news shows, "I have never accepted payment to say nice
things about a product in any venue." He said manufacturers hired him as
"a spokesperson who could talk credibly and understandably about consumer
products," but that he would no longer accept payment for appearances on
local shows.
NBC would not make a senior executive available for an interview.
As soon as the "senior management team" learned of the payments to
contributors, said spokeswoman Allison Gollust, "we looked into the issue
and subsequently updated our policies. We have strict guidelines in place
governing our relationships with contributors and have made all of them
aware of our policies."
The art of product placement, an increasingly popular and open
practice with movie studios, has been handled quietly in television news.
In the seemingly endless number of segments about the latest and greatest
computers, cameras, music players and other gadgets, experts are praising
products -- often on "satellite tours" of local stations -- without
disclosing that the manufacturers are paying them to spread the word on
the airwaves.
Tom Rosenstiel, director of the Project for Excellence in
Journalism, says the morning shows should be more vigilant. "If you're
trying to project to your audience that they should trust Matt and Katie
or Charlie and Diane, you'd think you would take every step you could to
say, 'What do I need to know about this guest? Does this guest have any
conflicts of interest? Let's make sure this guy isn't getting paid by the
manufacturers.' . . . This is precisely the kind of thing that erodes
public trust in the media."
NBC has not severed its relationship with Greenberg and other
experts who it says failed to reveal their corporate ties. "This is a way
of doing business for these people," said one NBC official who declined to
be identified because the network would not let executives talk to the
media. "It's hard to find a contributor who doesn't have a connection to
one of these things."
Greenberg, a former magazine writer, is apparently in demand as an
authority on consumer products.
Since December, he has discussed Sony's ImageStation digital photo
site on WNBC's "Today in New York" and Fox's "Arizona Morning"; Sony's
DSC-H1 camera on "Good Day Dallas," "Today in St. Louis" and "News
Daybreak" in Austin; Energizer E{+2} Lithium batteries on Fox's "Morning
News at Seven" in North Carolina; Sony's Cyber-shot camera on Fox's
Houston station, and Hewlett-Packard's Digital Entertainment System on
"Today."
He was on "Sunday Today" last month to talk about "the coolest
thing," Apple's iPhoto service for digital pictures: "All the information
goes up to Apple, Apple sends you a week later this perfect beautifully
bound book."
Greenberg has also appeared several times on CNBC, including "The
Wall Street Journal Report with Maria Bartiromo," and mentioned Apple and
Creative music products in a February appearance on the network. He touted
Apple's iPod Photo on CNBC's now-defunct "McEnroe."
Under network policies, which also apply to stock analysts and
fund managers, Greenberg "should have disclosed the other relationships to
CNBC prior to his appearances," said spokeswoman Amy Zelvin. In the
future, she said, "he wouldn't be on talking about companies where he was
getting some sort of payment."
James Oppenheim, technology editor for Child magazine, has also
appeared on "Today" and a number of local news shows, trumpeting products
made by his clients. These include Microsoft, Radio Shack, Atari, Mattel,
LeapFrog Enterprises and Kodak, for a fee of $12,500 for each media tour,
the Journal said.
In February, Oppenheim gushed to Al Roker on "Today" over the
"very first pentop computer."
"Get out of here!" Roker said.
"And it's an educational product from LeapFrog that is absolutely
amazing," Oppenheim said.
In a December spot on "Today," Oppenheim told Ann Curry about
Radio Shack's Chameleon, a device for finding a lost remote control. He
also said that Kodak "came out with a great idea" for uploading pictures
to the company's Web site.
"Nice gift for a little child, right?" Curry said.
Child magazine said yesterday it had been unaware of the other
contracts and is terminating its relationship with Oppenheim. "We view
this as a breach of journalistic ethics," said Sue Geramian, a vice
president at parent company Gruner + Jahr USA Publishing. "His on-air
appearances have all been on behalf of his own company and not as an
authorized spokesperson for Child. We still believe that those products he
recommended for us are consistent with our magazine's high caliber and
standards."
Oppenheim also runs JamesGames.com, where he recently praised a
Microsoft computer mouse as "proof that good things come in small
packages." Oppenheim, who did not respond to an e-mailed request for
comment, told the Journal that corporate payments do not influence his
judgment.
Television shows aren't the only ones tapping into such experts.
In January, in an article on Leapfrog's Fly pentop computer, USA Today
quoted Oppenheim as saying the product is "innovative, empowering and has
a good chance of capturing the attention and imagination of children." He
was identified only as a Child magazine editor.