Like many TV stations, WUSA (Channel 9) in Washington airs regular feature stories on its newscasts about medical and health topics. And when it does, WUSA tends to turn to one source: the Inova hospital chain of Northern Virginia.
Inova has another role in the “Family Health” features: It’s the sole sponsor of them.
The segments raise a question that has dogged the relationship between health-care organizations and TV stations across the country for years: Should such feature stories be called news reports or advertising — or an ill-defined hybrid of both?
