AANRs: Australian Audio News Releases

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The Australian TV show Mediawatch notes our study on video news releases and goes on to report, "We haven't found any examples as bad as that on Australian TV, but the radio equivalent -- the audio news release -- has definitely arrived." Mediawatch tracked one ANR, paid for by Telstra and produced and distributed by Professional Public Relations, that was aired by radio stations in Dubbo and Canberra. Another ANR, promoting a security company's fire alarms, was distributed by Media Game and aired by radio stations in Wagga and Young. "Under resourced news services that don't have time to do their own stories are the most vulnerable to PR strategies," notes Mediawatch. "Which means real local news is pushed aside for phoney corporate spin."