Gaudily-dressed Gadget Guy Peter Blasina was featured in a story on Today Tonight on Monday in which he spoke about home phone technology, in a story on Telstra’s T-HUB2, but neither Blasina nor the show disclosed his association with Telstra.
The new T-HUB2 offers tablet technology through an Android operating system, TT explained. The story spruiked its new features that make the traditional home phone a thing of the past.
“As a transition product I think it’s pretty much on the money,” Blasina said.
“It’s very much a multi-purpose device and more evolutionary than revolutionary.”
But Blasina is a Telstra Technology Ambassador, fronting regular presentations around the country.
A Seven spokesperson told TV Tonight, “Today Tonight was unaware that Peter had a role with Telstra, and a disclaimer would have been included had we known. That said, we now understand his role is only to host training classes for the elderly on how to use the internet and mobile phones, as he does for other groups as an IT expert. He’s not paid to market Telstra or represent their products or services.”
This isn’t the first time questions about non-disclosure have been raised for Blasina.
In 2005, Media Watch questioned a tech-product appearance on Sunrise which failed to disclose that a trip to Las Vegas had been sponsored by LG and Samsung.
“In terms of disclosing the sponsorship by LG and Samsung … that is really up to Sunrise to disclose at the end of the program,” he said at the time.
Blasina’s own website does disclose:
The GadgetGroup Pty. Ltd. and its affiliates including Gadgetguy.com.au, are engaged, or have been engaged in, paid contract publishing and/or promotional arrangements with the following organisations:
Yahoo!7
Telstra
more listed here.
I saw this segment and it was basically an infomercial posing as news article about decline in land line usage. Luckily I had it recorded so I just zoomed past most of it. Does seem silly they don’t just place a small disclaimer on the screen that it is a paid presentation, no one would mind. Everyone takes TT with a dose of saccharin anyway.
“Today Tonight was unaware that Peter had a role with Telstra, and a disclaimer would have been included had we known” Just proves how bad the ‘reporters’ are on TT.
It’s funny how Telstra are only now starting to talk about the traditional home-phone being a thing of the past yet they still force you to pay for a PSTN landline service if you want phone or internet with them.
I’ve had a VoIP phone since Sep 2005 and got rid of the landline completely a couple of years later when the ACCC ruled that Telstra could no longer force wholesalers to take a PSTN service with ADSL. Have never looked back. Telstra are an expensive dinosaur.
if the thub2 is as bad as the thub1 in quality everybody will be sending them back like they did with the first t hub what a piece of junk
Wow TT or ACA doing advertising as content.
I’m shocked
The whole T-Hub segment would have been bought by Telstra anyway.
Both TT and ACA have these “aticles” about a given topic and only feature one product, service or company. Eg: shopping for house brand Kettles etc imported from China. The whole piece was about Kmart and how it went from ruins to success by changing most of their stock to imported house brands.
He may deserve a cameo role in …..yeah you guessed it…The Shire