Report Faults Video Reports Shown as News

REPORT VAULTS VIDEO REPORTS SHOWN AS NEWS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: David Barstow]
Many television news stations, including some from the nation's largest markets, are continuing to broadcast reports as news without disclosing that the segments were produced by corporations pitching new products, according to a report to be released today by the Center for Media and Democracy. Television news directors have said that the segments, known as video news releases, are almost never broadcast, but CMD assembled television videotape from 69 stations that it said had broadcast fake news segments in the past 10 months. The report said none of the stations had disclosed that the segments were produced by publicists representing companies like General Motors, Capital One and Pfizer. The center also said that many of the 69 stations took steps to blend the fake segments into their news broadcasts. Some had their news reporters or anchors read scripts supplied by corporations, the report said, and many had altered screen graphics to include the station's logo. The report said that a few stations had introduced publicists as if they were their on-air reporters. Only a handful of stations added any independently gathered information or videotape, it said. The 69 stations reach about half the population of the United States.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/06/business/media/06video.html
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* See the report, Fake TV News: Widespread and Undisclosed:
http://www.prwatch.org/fakenews/execsummary

** Also see campaign to stop fake news: http://www.freepress.net/fakenews/