Study: TV stations air 'fake news reports'

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Wed, 05 Apr 2006 23:05:19 -0500

77 TV stations aired 'fake news reports'

 

 

 

 

77 TV stations aired 'fake news reports'

 

Ron Brynaert

Published: Wednesday April 5, 2006

 

 

A study by a group that monitors the media reveals that, over a ten

month span, 77 television stations from all across the nation aired

video news releases without informing their viewers even once that the

reports were actually sponsored content, RAW STORY has found.

 

One " news report " that aired on three stations relied on a video news

release (VNR) produced by a PR firm on behalf of General Motors which

was apparently based on a " false claim. "

 

Full Story:

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/77_TV_stations_aired_fake_news_0405.html

 

 

Center for Media and Democracy's Fake TV News: Widespread and

Undisclosed is " a multimedia report on television newsrooms' use of

material provided by PR firms on behalf of paying clients, " containing

video footage of the 36 video news releases (VNRs) cited in the

report, plus a map and spreadsheet of the stations cited.

http://www.prwatch.org/fakenews/execsummary

 

General Motors, Intel, Pfizer and Capital One are among the companies

who produced VNRs with the help of three PR firms, and " [m]ore than

one-third of the time, stations aired the pre-packaged VNR in its

entirety. "

 

An Oklahoma City FOX station owned by Sinclair is pegged as the

" report's top repeat offender, " airing five VNRs in full on its news

broadcasts, with " the publicist's original narration each time. "

 

Three stations " not only aired entire VNRs without disclosure, but had

local anchors and reporters read directly from the script prepared by

the broadcast PR firm. "

 

A firm called Medialink produced a VNR for General Motors which was

left largely unchanged when aired on news broadcasts in Louisiana and

Pennsylvania.

 

" GM, who introduced the first manufacturer web site in 1996, has

recently lowered prices, in some cases by thousands of dollars, on all

of their models as a direct result of the customers' ability to

comparison shop on the Internet, " intoned Medialink's Kate Brookes in

the spot.

 

But the Center for Media and Democracy blasts GM's " historical claim "

as " fake. "

 

" A simple dated search for " automotive web site " in the Nexis news

database revealed a press release from August 1995 in which Volkswagen

heralded the launch of their web portal, " the report states. " It

wasn't until February 1996 that General Motors announced gm.com in

their own press release. "

 

A comparison between the General Motors VNR and one of the news

broadcasts can be seen at this link.

 

Last year the New York Times published an article called " Under Bush,

a new age of prepackaged TV news " - written by David Barstow and Robin

Stein - which reported on the stealthy use of VNRs created by

government agencies that crept into network news broadcasts.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/13/politics/13covert.html?ex=1144468800 & en=a171bf\

ab6f8fe507 & ei=5070

 

The Times revealed that even though Radio-Television News Directors

Association's " code of ethics " specifies to " clearly disclose the

origin of information and label all material provided by outsiders, "

the Federal Communications Commission has " never disciplined a station

for showing government-made news segments without disclosing their

origin. "

 

An article in Thursday's Times by Barstow (New York Times registered

link) indicates that the Center " presented its findings yesterday to

F.C.C. officials, including Jonathan S. Adelstein, a commissioner who

has criticized video news releases. "

 

Impressed by the " scope of what they found, " Adelstein told the Times

that it was a " disgrace to American journalism, " and proof of

" potentially major violations " of F.C.C. rules.

 

" I guess they found the Loch Ness monster, " Adelstein adds.

 

 

 

--

 

 

" Loyalty to the country always. Loyalty to the

government when it deserves it. "

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