Video News Release Lobby Continues to Pressure FCC

VIDEO NEWS RELEASE LOBBY CONTINUES TO PRESSURE FCC
[SOURCE: Lasar's Letter on the FCC, AUTHOR: Matthew Lasar]
An alliance of Video News Release (VNR) groups has fired off a second rebuttal to the Center for Media and Democracy's (CMD) campaign against undisclosed "fake news" sponsorship. A public filing from the National Association of Broadcast Communicators [NABC] objects to efforts by CMD to "manipulate and distort the [Federal Communications] Commission's sponsorship identification requirements," as the lobby puts it. NABC claims that FCC rules do not state that all VNRs must disclose their sponsor. They also argue that producers have no connection to the way in which a VNR is broadcast, therefore they are exempt from disclosing information about their revenue. Though NABC says that it "appreciates the Commission's need to ensure compliance with its sponsorship identification requirements," in its latest statement filed with the FCC on November 27th the group insists that FCC rules do not specifically require all VNRs to be disclosed: "Sponsorship identification is required only when a VNR: (1) raises controversial issues of public importance, (2) discusses political matters, or (3) involves the payment of money or other consideration to the broadcaster as an inducement to include that material in a broadcast," NABC says. NABC reasons that VNRs are provided to broadcasters without charge or payment, thus they do not violate payola statutes. Additionally, the allegedly non-controversial topics that CMD lists - cosmetics, light bulbs, cereal, dog food, cold remedies - do not require sponsorship IDs.
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