Public relations 'ads' as news...

FCC Commissioners Pledge Expanded Inquiry Into Fake News: Federal Communication Commissioners (FCC) Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein have promised an investigation into each of the 46 television stations revealed by the Center for Media and Democracy's report, Still Not the News to have used undisclosed video news releases (VNRs). Democracy Now presenter, Amy Goodman, found it difficult getting a comment from any of the stations. Fifteen declined to comment or did not respond to inquiries while San Diego CBS affiliate KFMB-TV stated a VNR they used should not have been aired without disclosure. The Radio-Television News Directors Association and the newly-minted VNR-industry lobby group, the National Association of Broadcast Communicators, both declined to be interviewed. O'Dwyer's PR Daily reported Copps praised CMD for its "hard work" in producing the report. Adelstein criticized television stations for broadcasting "corporate propaganda" and flagged the need for tighter FCC regulation. "If the flock ignores the shepherd, it is time to build a fence," he said.

(UPI): "A U.S. media watchdog group said Thursday 46 television stations in 22 states have been including public relations ads as news in their newscasts. (...) the Center for Media and Democracy issued a report denouncing 'fake TV news,' and said in almost 90 percent of the cases, the stations made no attempt to provide any disclosure to viewers the reports were commercially produced and made to look like a real news report. The center monitored the use of video news releases, or VNRs, from June 2005 to March 2006, and said the 77 stations who used VNRs reach 52.7 percent of the U.S. population and ranged from small to large markets. In every VNR broadcast monitored, the report said the TV stations altered the VNR`s appearance by adding station-branded graphics and overlays to make the reports indistinguishable from reports that originated from their station."