• Los Angeles Times, Wednesday, September 15, 2010 11:27 PM

Elizabeth Werner seemed to wow morning news people in towns like Detroit, Atlanta and Phoenix as she assessed various toys. What viewrs didn't know is that Werner is a spokeswoman for hire, not an independent consumer advocate. She touted only products from companies that forked over $11,000 to be part of her back-to-school television "tour." And local TV stations, now a hotbed for pay-to-play promotions, failed to mention the connection.

DWJ Television, the company that hires Werner, says they notify TV stations of the arrangement. Several TV stations Werner visited claimed they were told nothing about Werner's paid status. Federal law requires disclosure "when a broadcast station transmits any matter for which money, service or other valuable consideration is either directly or indirectly paid." That would include people like Werner. Technically, failure to disclose, with either a spoken or on-screen disclaimer, can be fined up to $37,500 per violation. But you don't hear about a flood of penalties coming out of Washington.

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