Video News Releases

Flowery Fake News Deemed Evergreen

by Diane Farsetta — February 9, 2007 - 6:57pm

Valentine's Day is approaching, and the public relations industry is readying fake news promotions for jewelry, candy, flowers and other traditional gifts.

Main Source: 
Medialink Worldwide, February 8, 2007

Attacking the Messenger: PR Executive Reveals "Radical" CMD Agenda

by Diane Farsetta — January 23, 2007 - 3:05pm
  • Topics: Activism, Video News Releases, Fake TV News, Media, U.S. Government

    • As reported yesterday on the website "Lasar's Letter on the FCC," the president of the public relations firm KEF Media Associates took rather strong exception to the Center for Media and Democracy's 2006 Falsies Awards.

    Meet Us in Memphis!

    by Diane Farsetta — January 10, 2007 - 9:24am

    Media activists, scholars, reporters and policy makers will converge in Memphis, TN, this weekend, for the National Conference for Media Reform, organized by Free Press. If you'll be there, stop by the Center for Media and Democracy information table or come to one of the presentations by CMD staffers.

    Main Source: 
    Free Press, January 12-14, 2007

    Fake News Increasingly Posted Online

    by Diane Farsetta — December 19, 2006 - 4:59pm

    Video news releases (VNRs) aren't just for television anymore. "Hurt by public criticism of VNRs, possible Federal Communications Commission oversight, and a shrunken news hole," broadcast PR firms "are looking for ways to survive -- and making the Internet a bigger part of their offerings could be the answer," writes PR Week.

    Main Source: 
    PR Week (sub req'd), December 18, 2006

    Former FCC General Counsel: Fake TV News Must Be Disclosed

    by Diane Farsetta — December 13, 2006 - 10:13am
  • Topics: Activism, Video News Releases, Media, U.S. Government

    • Publicist Mike Morris, identified as a reporter during a VNR broadcast

    "Congress and the courts have stressed that as fiduciaries given the free use of the public airwaves, broadcasters are obligated to operate in the public interest. Flagrantly deceptive practices are inconsistent with that obligation and can find no sanction in the First Amendment."

    Those words were written by Henry Geller, a former general counsel of the Federal Communications Commission and assistant secretary of commerce for communications and information. Today, the StarTribune in Minneapolis/St. Paul published an op/ed that Geller and I co-authored. The piece (copied below) describes why full disclosure of video news releases (VNRs) is both vital to the public interest and supported by legal precedent.

    If you think the public should be told where its news really comes from, you can still support VNR disclosure, via the online action hosted by our colleagues at Free Press.

    SMT Interviews: The Other Fake TV News

    by Diane Farsetta — December 6, 2006 - 12:30pm

    SMT star Julie Edelman shills for five companies

    As the Center for Media and Democracy illustrated in its April 2006 report, "fake TV news" includes <

    Main Source: 
    PR Week (sub req'd), October 2, 2006

    U.S. Fake News Sales Slide

    by Bob Burton — November 21, 2006 - 8:33pm
  • Topics: Advertising, Video News Releases, International, Marketing, Propaganda, Public Relations, U.S. Government

    • One indication that the controversy over the unattributed use of video news releases (VNRs) is beginning to bite is buried in the latest quarterly financial report of Medialink Worldwide, the $30 million a year behemoth of the fake news industry.

    FCC Commissioners Pledge Expanded Inquiry Into Fake News

    by Bob Burton — November 15, 2006 - 3:19am

    Federal Communication Commissioners (FCC) Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein have promised an investigation into each of the 46 television stations revealed by the Center for Media and Democracy's report, Still Not the News to have used undisclosed

    Main Source: 
    Democracy Now (US), November 14th, 2006

    "Still Not the News": Read the Report and Take Action!

    by Diane Farsetta — November 14, 2006 - 9:50am

    If you thought an ongoing Federal Communications Commission investigation—launched in response to the Center for Media and Democracy's April 2006 report "Fake TV News"—would get

    Main Source: 
    Center for Media and Democracy, November 14, 2006
    Syndicate content