Time to follow the travails of some of those TV stations that got letters of inquiry from the FCC asking whether they broadcast "fake news"—corporate produced Video News Releases (VNRs) made to look like legit news stories.
The letters went out in the middle of this month in response to a report released in April by the Center for Media and Democracy [1] indicating that 77 television stations, reaching more than half the U.S. population, have aired such VNRs.
Here's some of the fallout so far:
- Boston's WHDH-TV went to the trouble of revoicing and editing a VNR Christmas feature produced for Toshiba and Fisher-Price Toys. They just did not tell their viewers that the companies paid for the piece, the Boston Herald reports.
"We did not air a disclaimer, and we do have a policy against airing them," a WHDH flak later said. "We had a producer on that night who did not run the segment by the news director." Yeah, blame the night shift.
- The Decatur Daily reports that Huntsville, Tennessee's own WHNT admits they used fake news.
"Channel 19 regrettably did air video news releases in the past," WHNT General Manager Craig Mars says. "Since then, we've clarified our policy and taken the extreme measure that we are not to use any video news releases."
WHNT ran a VNR on Valentine's Day tips and a feature titled "Quick and Healthy Housekeeping with Laura Bellutri." The New York Times, no stranger to fake news itself, owns the station.
- The folks at WBRZ-TV of Baton Rouge say they sure did run a VNR and they're not sorry, according to the Louisiana Advocate:
"The [Center for Media and Democracy] noted WBRZ aired without attribution a VNR on ethanol plants created by a public relations firm on behalf of Siemens AG, a corporation with a financial stake in the construction of ethanol plants. The station defended the decision, saying the content was vetted to make sure it was accurate."
Advocate co-owner Richard Manship serves as CEO of WBRZ. The stations' news director accused The Center "of having a bias against public relations agencies," the article continues.
- Staff at WKBW-TV of Buffalo, New York have been told to clean up their act after the station got a letter from the FCC, according to Alan Pergament of the Buffalo News. Actually, WKBW didn't run a VNR. The station broadcast an interview on Super Bowl parties with "The Clever Cleaver Boys," who recommended various products sold by some of the TV station's sponsors. Since the feature aired within a magazine style show that warns its viewers that it broadcasts sponsored pieces, the station may dodge a spanking this time. But the scare clearly has had a salubrious effect nonetheless.
multivu.com [2].
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