By Tom Dunn
Two years ago the Star downsized due to less advertisers, subscribers because of digital advertising, readership becoming younger, preferred digital news to newsprint which was 24 hours behind reporting compared to digital news available on electronic devices anywhere 24/7.
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The paper downsized to 20-24 pages and a major reduction in advertising. I noticed half sometimes full page ads, probably at a greatly reduced price, mostly medical ads of dubious quality or effective curing results. Dozens of various remedies, too many to list, for all body parts, brain to sore feet. The products great promises of relief, miracle cures low cost reminded me of the old old West when the “Snake Oil Shyster” on a wagon pulls into town to sell his dubious possibly dangerous magical elixirs.
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When I worked at TV stations and newspapers I had assignments to watch advertisements video and print. The purpose was to see if ads were distasteful to viewers, made false statements/claims or made the TV station or newspaper liable. An ad appeared in the Star Friday 4/17 stating a NASA nutrient delivers 5,000 times more energy than CoQ10.
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This ad is so outrageous any sane person would automatically question how this could be printed without a statement by a newspaper that the ad had been verified by some reputable source. At the bottom of this long ad is a statement in small letters very light colored ink that FDA had not evaluated the product. The media companies I worked for would not allow this ad to run or would post a disclaimer that was readable that alerted its viewers to the products questionable results
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Does the Star care – or is it “read the Star at your own risk and waste your hard earned money”
Tom Dunn is the publisher of Hueneme Voice
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Citizens Journal
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Re:
“This ad is so outrageous any sane person would automatically question how this could be printed without a statement by a newspaper that the ad had been verified by some reputable source. ”
I’m more worried about some of their news reports.