For the better part of five years, people concerned with the integrity of news casts, particularly at the local level, have had to worry about the [tag]Bush[/tag] administration’s habit of producing taxpayer-financed [tag]propaganda[/tag] in the form of fake-news [tag]segments[/tag]. As far as the administration is concerned, they’ve been doing it, they’ll keep doing it, and they’re not terribly concerned about independent analyses from the GAO over whether the practice is legal or not.
As it turns out, it’s not just the Bush gang. Corporations are producing fake-news segments — which amount to little more than mini-informercials masquerading as actual news — and TV stations are running them, too.
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 [tag]corporations[/tag] pitching new products, according to a report to be released today by a group that monitors the news media.
Television news directors have said that the segments, known as video news releases, are almost never broadcast, but the group assembled television videotape from 69 stations that it said had broadcast fake news segments in the past 10 months.
The new report was prepared by the Center for Media and Democracy, which is based in Wisconsin and which describes itself as dedicated to “exposing public relations spin and propaganda.” 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 stations are embarrassed now that they’ve been caught, but the Center for Media and Democracy found examples of stations’ reporters or anchors reading scripts supplied by corporations, and in some instances, adding the station’s logo to the propaganda to make the segments appear more like actual news.
I’ve been critical of the Bush administration for pulling this stunt at public expense, but reports like this shift the onus back onto the media. These local TV stations have to be held responsible for their willful deceptions.
I understand the larger dynamic — the stations are cutting back funds for real journalism to stay profitable, so these fake-news segments fill in the gaps. But if they still want their news broadcasts to be called “news,” they’re going to have to stop this nonsense.