News+Ads=Advertainment

Romenesko:

KARE-TV's local "Today" show will be renamed "Showcase Minnesota" and charge advertisers $2,000 to $2,500 for 5-minute segments on the show. "I am aghast," says University of Minnesota media ethics professor Jane Kirtley, who at first thought a reporter was kidding about the new format. "This is the logical extension of the whole pernicious practice of infomercials. If viewers are accustomed to getting [talk show] programming in a very different way, to suddenly change the rules on them isn't fair."

Makes me sick to my stomach.