Good Night and Good Luck

GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK
[SOURCE: Houston Chronicle, AUTHOR: Editorial Staff]
[Commentary] Most Americans who care about things such as energy want to know the facts. A new study suggests that TV news might be the wrong place to look. In the past 10 months, 77 stations foisted off as news at least 36 videos paid for and filmed by corporations. In their own way, these faux news broadcasts are masterful pieces of work. The videos expertly ape the tone, pacing and structure of traditional news. Only near the end, or slipped subtly into the "reporting," does product placement occur -- pushing Cadillacs, prescription-strength drugs or, in one case, ethanol. The 36 VNRs studied represent only 1 percent of those produced nationwide last year. Certainly, TV stations face crushing competitive pressures to program more with smaller staffs. And news businesses, whether print or TV, will always make mistakes. What's so troubling about the VNR plague, though, is the TV industry's indifference to stopping it. The industry itself, not a media watchdog group, should have been the first to report the widespread corruption of the news. It should have already examined, even isolated, stations that were infected. Since that hasn't happened, it is for the FCC to enforce regulations it has too long overlooked. There's nothing wrong with advertising, but viewers need to show they won't put up with false pretenses.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/3926021.html