ProSieben :newstime

In 2009 the news program received criticism after the station ProSieben broadcasted a trailer for the coming up show Fringe (2008), disguised as a special news bulletin, which was however not marked as a trailer, and was broadcasted on the 13.03.2019. Host Michael Marx announced an urgent report about a medical sensation in a New York hospital where a woman gave birth to a child that grew to a grown man after a few minutes. This was followed by video recordings, marked as "Amateur records". Because it was not marked as a TV trailer it was not clear that it was not actual news. Marx ended the report by saying that "a special task force" has to be found until the 16th March 2009 (the day of the German premiere of "Fringe") and that "more about this subject right after the news and exclusively on ProSieben", followed by a teaser for the show Fringe (2008). Later a similar bulletin was broadcasted, this time about a meeting at "Massive Dynamic", in which a man was attacked and hurt by a butterfly-a-like insect, later even by a whole bike of these insects. This report also had videos, marked as "Amateur videos", which were announced as "records with a cellphone". Both bulletins were broadcasted several times. This lead to a fee of EUR3500,-, which ProSieben had to pay. According to the Commision for Youth Media Security (Kommission für Jungendmedienschutz) it was against the Youth media Security Law and could damage the development of children under 12.

Featured in Harald Schmidt: Épisode #4.1 (2009)