INDEPENDENT– Federal authorities are actively investigating dozens of
American television stations for broadcasting items produced by the Bush
administration and major corporations, and passing them off as
normal news. Some of the fake news segments talked up success in the war in Iraq,
or promoted the companies’ products.
Investigators from the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) are seeking information about stations across
the country after a report produced by a campaign group detailed the
extraordinary extent of the use of such items.
The report, by the non-profit group Centre for Media and
Democracy, found that over a 10-month period at least 77 television stations
were making use of the faux news broadcasts, known as Video News Releases (VNRs). Not one told
viewers who had produced the items.
“We know we only had partial access to these VNRs and
yet we found 77 stations using them,” said Diana Farsetta, one of the
group’s researchers. “I would say it’s pretty extraordinary. The picture
we found was much worse than we expected going into the investigation in terms
of just how widely these get played and how frequently these pre-packaged
segments are put on the air.”
Ms Farsetta said the public relations companies commissioned
to produce these segments by corporations had become increasingly sophisticated
in their techniques in order to get the VNRs broadcast. “They have got
very good at mimicking what a real, independently produced television report
would look like,” she said.
The FCC has declined to comment on the investigation but
investigators from the commission’s enforcement unit recently approached Ms
Farsetta for a copy of her group’s report.
The range of VNR is wide. Among items provided by the Bush
administration to news stations was one in which an Iraqi-American in Kansas
City was seen saying “Thank you Bush. Thank you USA”
in response to the 2003 fall of Baghdad.
The footage was actually produced by the State Department, one of 20 federal
agencies that have produced and distributed such items.
Many of the corporate reports, produced by drugs manufacturers such as Pfizer, focus on
health issues and promote the manufacturer’s product. One example cited by the
report was a Hallowe’en segment produced by the confectionery giant Mars, which
featured Snickers, M&Ms and other company brands. While the original VNR
disclosed that it was produced by Mars, such information was removed when it
was broadcast by the television channel – in this case a Fox-owned station in St
Louis, Missouri.
Bloomberg news service said that other companies that
sponsored the promotions included General Motors, the
world’s largest car maker, and Intel, the biggest maker of semi-conductors. All
of the companies said they included full disclosure of their involvement in the
VNRs. “We in no way attempt to hide that we are providing the video,”
said Chuck Mulloy, a spokesman for Intel. “In fact, we bend over backward
to make this disclosure.”
The FCC was urged to act by a lobbying campaign organised by
Free Press, another non-profit group that focuses on media policy. Spokesman
Craig Aaron said more than 25,000 people had written to the FCC about the VNRs.
“Essentially it’s corporate advertising or propaganda masquerading as
news,” he said. “The public obviously expects their news reports are
going to be based on real reporting and real information. If they are watching
an advertisement for a company or a government policy, they need to be told.”
The controversy over the use of VNRs by television stations
first erupted last spring. At the time the FCC issued a public notice warning
broadcasters that they were obliged to inform viewers if items were sponsored.
The maximum fine for each violation is $32,500 (£17,500).
Editor’s note: To check out 36 examples of VNRs, including the client(s) that funded it, the TV stations that aired it, and the deceptive techniques that newsrooms used to disguise it as genuine journalism go HERE. You can also compare Quicktime videos of the
original VNRs with selected newscasts that incorporated them.
© INDEPENDENT 2006
CNET
INDEPENDENT