Video News Releases

GM Tries To Drive Young Journalists

by Diane Farsetta — August 31, 2006 - 11:06am

"It seems what young student journalists would be 'learning' from this experience is how to take a free trip and meals from one of the company's larger corporations," wrote University of North Carolina business journalism professor Chris Roush. He had just received an email from one of General Motors' PR people, asking for help in promoting GM's "First College Journalists Event," in Las Vegas on September 9 and 10.

Main Source: 
"Talking Biz News," University of North Carolina blog, August 30, 2006

Prez Press Room Retrofit Aiming at Message Control?

by Jonathan Rosenblum — August 29, 2006 - 2:37pm

Technological advances in a refurbished White House Press Room open the door (or wall, actually) to daily presidential video news releases, says Professor Robert Thompson of Syracuse University. "The equivalent of press releases could go out without interruption or analysis," Thompson said of the new "video wall" that likely will be added to the press room when it reopens next year.

Main Source: 
The State (South Carolina) August 2, 2006

CMD's 'Fake TV News' Report Fuels FCC Investigation

by John Stauber — August 15, 2006 - 7:57am

The Washington Post reports, "The Federal Communications Commission has sent letters to 77 television broadcasters, asking whether their stations had properly labeled 'video news releases' ... before broadcasting them. ...

Main Source: 
Washington Post, August 15, 2006

NEWS RELEASE: CMD Commends FCC Investigation of Fake TV News

by John Stauber — August 14, 2006 - 7:41pm
  • Topics: Video News Releases, Media, U.S. Government

    • For Immediate Release

    Contact: Diane Farsetta or John Stauber, 608-260-9713

    Center for Media and Democracy Commends FCC Investigation of Fake TV News

    (Madison, WI 8/14/06) Diane Farsetta, senior researcher with the non-profit watchdog group Center for Media and Democracy, released the following statement regarding the announcement by the Federal Communications Commission of its investigation of the fake TV news scandal documented by CMD.

    Keeping Media "On Track" with Audio News Releases

    by Bob Burton — June 30, 2006 - 5:44am

    Kate Corcoran, an account executive at the New York-based PR firm Articulate Communications, told PR Week that one of the benefits of audio news releases that run to a 60-second script is control. "This allows the message to be delivered in the exact way the company chooses," she said.

    Main Source: 
    PR Week (sub req'd), June 29, 2006

    Video News Releases: The Fantasy vs. Reality

    by Sheldon Rampton — June 20, 2006 - 5:39pm
  • Topics: Video News Releases

    • Television stations have maintained a studied silence about our report on the use of video news releases, but the print media has fewer qualms about discussing it. Saturday's Indianapolis Star carried an op-ed piece by Jeffrey McCall, a professor of communication at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana. McCall described the use of VNRs as a "sneaky strategy" by "some wayward television news operations" that blurs the line "between reality and fantasy."

    Confronted with Disclosure Demands, Fake News Moguls Cry "Censorship!"

    by Diane Farsetta — June 7, 2006 - 12:26pm
  • Topics: Activism, Video News Releases, Media, U.S. Government

    • Be afraid, be very afraid! If television stations are required to abide by existing regulations and label the corporate and government propaganda they routinely pass off as "news," the First Amendment will be shredded, the freedom of the press repealed, and TV stations will collapse overnight!

    It's Clobberin' Time

    by Sheldon Rampton — May 30, 2006 - 5:14pm
  • Topics: Video News Releases

    • Our senior researcher, Diane Farsetta, is one "bad mamma jamma" according to the author of "The Quincy Dump," who interviewed her for his blog about the Fake TV News report that she co-wrote and researched with Dan Price.

    "Fake TV News" Report Now in PDF Form

    by Diane Farsetta — May 26, 2006 - 3:42pm

    With the U.S. Federal Communications Commission investigating the television stations that CMD documented airing corporate video news releases, you might want to read through the report that started it all.

    Main Source: 
    Center for Media and Democracy, May 26, 2006
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