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User ID: 99754
 United States
06/09/2006 12:56 PM
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Report Copyright Violation | Fuckin Hilarious... Fake News says their 1st Amendment rights are being violated. [ link to www.gnn.tv] By Diane Farsetta Confronted with disclosure demands, PR execs cry "censorship" SNIP
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government propaganda they routinely pass off as “news,” the First Amendment will be shredded, the freedom of the press repealed, and TV stations will collapse overnight!
At least, that’s what the public relations firms that produce and distribute video news releases (VNRs) and other forms of fake news would have you believe. PR firms are banding together and launching lobbying and PR campaigns to counter the growing call for full disclosure of VNRs, the sponsored video segments frequently aired by TV newsrooms as though they were independently-produced reports.
This alarmist campaign comes as no surprise; the PR industry is like any other business interest. And if there’s one thing business is good at, it’s avoiding meaningful oversight. Take direct-to-consumer drug marketing: The industry group PhRMA adopted voluntary guidelines last year, in a so-far successful bid to preempt increased scrutiny from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Unlike other businesses, the PR industry combines its resistance to oversight with expert, in-house talent at shaping media coverage and public opinion. That means that holding PR firms accountable is an especially tough job. When PR executives think their livelihood is being threatened, they pull out every tool in the propagandist’s toolbox.
That’s been the response to the Center for Media and Democracy’s (CMD’s) report, “Fake TV News: Widespread and Undisclosed.” Based on that study and in conjunction with our colleagues at Free Press, CMD is advocating for full disclosure of VNRs. (You can add your voice to that call by clicking here)
According to the trade magazine _PR Week _, “more than a dozen” broadcast PR firms, including Medialink Worldwide, D S Simon Productions, West Glen Communications and News Broadcast Network, recently started meeting to strategize how “to fight the latest wave of public scrutiny” of VNRs. Medialink founder and CEO Larry Moskowitz explained, “We’re communicating pretty regularly to come up with a common voice and ensure that the details of our position are aligned.”
A Rotten Status Quo
The PR firms’ goal is to protect the status quo. That is, they maintain a brisk business, producing video and audio “news” for their mostly corporate clients. TV and radio stations air the segments, which – purely coincidentally – mention clients’ products, services and good deeds, with nary a critical viewpoint. Disclosure remains a goal of lofty-sounding station and professional codes of conduct, but is observed more in breach than in practice. The public remains unaware that the very subject of the “news” report they see or hear actually paid to have that report scripted, produced and promoted to newsrooms.
Last Edited by Account Deleted by User on 09/02/2011 04:17 PM"Pray, v:. To ask that the laws of the universe be annulled in behalf of a single petitioner confessedly unworthy." - Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) |
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User ID: 278
United States
06/09/2006 01:00 PM
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Report Copyright Violation | Re: Fuckin Hilarious... Fake News says their 1st Amendment rights are being violated.   99.999% of what affects our reality will be undetectable by our senses. Man must learn to think for himself rather than follow blindly what he has been taught.
-Buckminster Fuller |
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User ID: 99754
United States
06/09/2006 01:06 PM
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Report Copyright Violation | Re: Fuckin Hilarious... Fake News says their 1st Amendment rights are being violated. One of the worst cases of "spin" I have ever heard. "Pray, v:. To ask that the laws of the universe be annulled in behalf of a single petitioner confessedly unworthy." - Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) |
