Untruth in Labeling

Original Butter? That's Just Un-Wise, Wise

Amid the kids' Halloween booty yesterday was a snack-sized bag of Wise popcorn with "Original Butter." Because you wouldn't want your butter to be accused of being a copycat.

Turns out "Original Butter" is something else entirely, as right under that label on the package is the disclaimer "artificially flavored."

That means "Original Butter" is something else, as the nutrition label indicateds. But there's no butter. Not even close.

So, it appears the FTC allows a company to call a product whatever it wants, as long as it's upfront about what it's not. "Original Butter" is just a name for a flavor. Despite common sense, it doesn't connote that there's actual butter, just the appearance of such. It's not dishonest, just disingenuous.

New York Post Should be Sacked for Cheap Tease on Eli Manning

It's One Thing to Get Readers to Turn the Page. It's Another to Have Something There When You Do

I'm not a regular reader of The New York Post print edition, but if someone decides to leave a copy on the train, I'm only too happy to pick it up, me being a foe of litter and all.
That happened to me on my home Friday night. Uncharacteristically, I work my way back to the sports section instead of my usual vice versa. Most of page 3 is taken up with a photo of Giants QB Eli Manning and his wife Abby, who the cutline tell us are "young rich and famous." Duh.
It goes on: "They are sports royalty in demand for social and charity events. He led the Giants to the 2008 Super Bowl championship, and she's the beautiful cheerleader who's been by his side since they were kids. It would seem that they've got it all, but do they?"
Uh, oh. This is a Page Six exclusive!!!!! It was almost Halloween, after all, so time to cue the skeletons to come out of the closet. A breathless dash to page 14, that day's home for Page Six, which reveals that Eli may be throwing Hail Mary's into a Diaper Genie before long. If all goes well, baby will make three in the spring. Mazel tov.
So, the answer to the above question is a resounding yes. The Post wanted us to believe otherwise, but we had little choice to fall for it hook, line, and screen pass. Still in all, they should be whistled for a journalistic cheap shot, even by the Post's shaky standards.

Barron's Bearish on Its Integrity

Just Because You Call It An Ad Doesn't Make It Right

While thumbing through this week's issue of Barron's, a curious and disturbing site awaits on page 21 below a short item about a possible successor to Warren Buffett: an ad.
Not just any ad, but one for a company called FirstHourTrading.com, a firm that plies its wares to the alpha dogs known as day traders.
It's not the product that's being sold that's problematic. Rather, the ad--notwithstanding the fact that at its top has the disclaimer "paid advertisement," looks like an article with the exact font and typeface Barron's uses for its own articles.
Of course, advertorial designed to look like regular copy is a time-honored ploy. But graphically, it's almost always dissimilar enough for even the most-casual readers to figure out that The New York Times didn't just do a gushing profile on Amish heaters.
Barron's, however, is calling signals from a different playbook. Even if it doesn't hide the fact the space has been paid for, the ad still leaves a big stink. It's the kind of questionable tactic you might read about in a publication, say, like Barron's.
Well, maybe not anymore.

Coverage of the New York Giants Shrinks in the New York Times

The Beat Doesn't Go on for Big Blue

We've written often about the incredible shrinking New York Times sports section. It long ago gave up on regular coverage of the Islanders, Devils, and Nets. Most Rangers games are relegated to AP stories. The number of columnists was slashed from five to two (although Harvey Araton is mounting a semi-comeback).
The section became more about enterprise reporting, narrowcast beats (e.g. Alan Schwarz focusing almost exclusively on head injuries), cycling (ugh) and the business of sports (Rich Sandomir and Ken Belson rock). All well and good. But there are still games to be played.
And now, the paper has stepped on a third rail and no longer assigned a beat writer to cover the Giants. Baseball, football and the Knicks had been sacrosanct. So, not having a regular scribe trailing Big Blue is bewildering, to say the least, especially given the team's rabid fan following and thick story lines.
During training camp, dispatches were semi-regular at best. It looked like Mark Viera was the writer following the team. But he's often dispatched on other stories. Joe Lapointe, who used to cover the Giants before taking a buyout, still pops up frequently in the Times as a freelancer. National football writer Judy Battista covered a game. And, lately, so has Bill Pennington, who has a lot of football experience, though lately he has focused more on golf and skiing.
All of these writers are capable and know their way around a pigskin. That's not the point. If you pop in to do a game and little else, or if you're there one week and gone the next, it's next to impossible to build a rapport, establish a knowledge base or do anything to give you a leg up on the competition. It's newspapering 101.
Even the Times thinks it's above that, many of its readers aren't. Judging by what I see on the train every day, people read the Times because they choose to, because they need to. Giving them a decent local sports report still needs to be part of the formula that justifies two bucks dail and a five on Sundays. The Times wants to be a complete newspaper. The sports section can't be an exception.

In Cablevision-Fox Spat, Newspapers Come Out the Winner

Rupert Murdoch Helps Contribute to the New York Times' Bottom Line

Now that Cablevision and Fox are about to enter their fourth day of a standoff that's resulted in 3 million cable customers in the New York area without local channels 5 and 9--it's beginning to get a little tense (though not in my house, where all is harmonious with DirecTV).
This has become a big-time hissy fit over retransmission fees with nobody winning the PR war. But both sides sure as hell are trying. And spending a fortune on full-page ads in the process. Collectively, they've dropped a healthy six-figure sum at The New York Times alone. The local tabs and Cablevision-owned Newsday have also gotten their share.
That means Fox grand poobah Rupert Murdoch is dumping valuable cash into the arms of his competition--remember, he also owns the New York Post, while the cable blackout rages on.
That's may be why you don't see any editorials calling on both sides to go to binding arbitration to ensure Cablevision homes can watch the World Series, especially if the Yankees can make it past the Rangers.
Because, hey, there's always the radio. And tomorrow's newspaper to read all about it.