An open letter to State Governors & Legislatures (Colo. only)
Sponsored content masquerading as news
1 so far! Help us get to 5 signers!
Not surprisingly, we live in a world where money rules and deceptive information seems to be the norm. With the proliferation of ways of encountering this, legislation and enforcement of that legislation is the only protection for the Colorado consumer. No one can be expected to be an expert in every field and "caveat emptor" cannot be the only protection that the American consumer has. Government has the responsibility to protect and educate Coloradans.
So I was watching an episode of "last week with John Oliver" in which he does an expose of the flagrant violation of current law and demonstrates the inadequacy of those laws that try to draw the line between sponsored content and local news. This kind of exposé and watch-dogging is becoming increasingly rare, especially with more and more corporations buying up and consolidating local news outlets, and the American populace is left to inadequately sort out truth from fiction. Corporate interests and the far right are realizing that going to local media, a largely trusted source of information, are becoming the new battleground between disinformation and factual information.
We already know that right wing interests have targeted such federal consumer protections as the consumer protection agency. Going around and behind such regulators is not surprising. It is time that state and federal legislators act to beef up enforcement and legislation attacking this kind of deception. For that's what it is; outright and blatantly misleading and flagrantly spurious claims presenting themselves as news.
Please let me know what y