Paying A News Crew To Come To Elmhurst? Nope
ELMHURST, IL – Some Elmhurst aldermen appeared to be left with the impression last week that the city could pay for positive pieces as part of TV stations’ feature and news coverage.
That’s not the case.
Last spring, WGN’s advertising department approached the city with possible deals ranging from $8,000 to $15,000 to appear on programs such as “Spotlight Chicago” and “Daytime Chicago.”
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In one offer, the station said, “A minimum of five different segments will air, with the option to add additional businesses (max amount is 7 total).”
In an email, an advertising representative referred to a discussion with a city staffer, saying they “had some great ideas flowing.”
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The representative listed five areas of town that could be featured: the downtown fountain; one of the museums or the library; the mural at Phase Three Brewing in the Spring Road district; North Avenue and Route 83; and Brewpoint Cafe in north Elmhurst.
At each location, upcoming summer events, restaurants and businesses could be featured, the representative said.
The total cost would be $15,000, or $3,000 a day.
Patch obtained the offers through a public records request to the city.
In a statement, WGN told Patch that it clearly marks paid spots as sponsored content. It said it does not pass off such pieces as news or feature coverage.
WGN, like most media, maintains a church-state-type wall between news and advertising. In other words, purchasing ads is not supposed to buy influence in news coverage.
The issue of paying media has come up during two recent Elmhurst City Council meetings. Aldermen debated whether the city should earmark $60,000 for possible social media influencer opportunities.
During the discussion, staffers suggested the city could pay a TV station news crew to feature Elmhurst.
Alderman Mike Brennan expressed surprise that such a crew would require payment.
“I always thought that if we landed on WGN or ABC that they just came out and did this out of the kindness of their hearts, and sometimes they do and sometimes, I guess, they don’t,” Brennan said.
The city also released emails from last spring involving a city staffer about a social media influencer possibly coming to town. The influencer was not named in the correspondence. Influencers require payment for featuring businesses or towns.
At last week’s council meeting, aldermen voted narrowly to cut the proposed influencer budget to $20,000, down from $60,000.
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