How a Small Newsroom Says No: Fake Polls, Paid Content, and the Pitch That Looks Like News

By Bill Bernardoni

I wrote recently about the fake polling firm that fooled national outlets and why the real fix is a five-minute check before a number goes on air. This is the practical follow-up. A small newsroom gets more than polls it can’t verify. It gets “news releases” that are really ads, “guest experts” who are really campaign surrogates, and offers to pay for coverage. The hard part isn’t knowing those are bad. It’s saying no when you’re one person with a show to fill.

Here are the house rules I’d tape next to the board:

• If you can’t find a real person behind it, it doesn’t air. Names, a phone number, an address. Call the number. That applies to pollsters, PR firms, and “institutes” you’ve never heard of.
• Ask who paid for it, every time. If money or anything of value changed hands for something to air, broadcasters have to say so on air under the FCC’s sponsorship identification rules. If they won’t tell you who paid, that’s your answer.
• Label it or leave it. Paid content can be honest content. Sponsored segments and clearly identified releases are fine. What’s not fine is letting a paid message sound like your reporting.
• Separate the sales desk from the news desk, even if it’s the same person. Write down that ad buys don’t buy coverage, and show it to advertisers before they ask.
• Have a two-sentence no ready. “We don’t air polls we can’t verify. Send us the methodology and the sponsor, and we’ll take a look.” Polite, short, and nobody can argue with it.
• Keep a short log of what you turned down and why. If a campaign or advertiser complains, you can show you applied the same rule to everyone, on every side.
• When in doubt, wait an hour. Being second with a real number beats being first with a fake one.

Saying no shouldn’t mean going silent. Listeners still deserve real polls, real candidates, and real local news. These rules just make sure what gets on the air earned its spot.

Small newsrooms don’t have lawyers on call. They do have the oldest standard in the business: you don’t say it until you know it.

Bill Bernardoni is the founder of Bernardoni Media & Marketing in Ottawa, Illinois, and co-host of America at 250: Due Diligence with former Voice of America White House bureau chief Steve Herman.