Video news release - Essay Example

Video news release Video news release is a common phenomenon in the television newscasts, but they are rarely disclosed to the viewers. The Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) discovered that there is an increasing rate of the advertisers using the video news release as authentic reporting by the television news, so that they can promote their products without disclosing this to the audience (). This is because, whenever such advertising news are promoted as authentic news from the televisions’ own newsrooms, they have a high rate of being effective to the target audience, considering that the audience holds the news broadcast by televisions as well researched, unbiased and objective. Through undertaking a survey of 77 television stations that broadcasts to 50% of the USA population, the CMD found that there were 36 video news release that were aired by these television stations incorporated and disguised as part of their own news, without disclosing to the audience the authentic source of the video news (). However, the major problem associated with the video news release is that the television stations that broadcasts these types of news fails to balance the clients news with their own independently researched footages, so as to present to the clients the actual status of the clients. More than 75% of the USA adult population depended on television news to be informed on what is happening around the world. Therefore, the television news that is aired on a daily basis has a great influence on the ability of the people to evaluate everything, ranging from consumer products to government policies (). The government has also been known for contributing the highest percentage of video news release that are aired by the television news, while political parties and other politically-based organizations are keen to broadcast their opinions to the public though the use of the video news release. There has been a recent controversy over the state of the video news release being incorporated within the normal news broadcast by televisions to the public, but the controversial debate has not deterred the television stations from continued airing of the fake news (). The controversy has led the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to investigate the conduct of the television stations that incorporates corporate clients or the government released video news release as their own news. This resulted to the issuance of the FCCs April 2005 Public Notice, which provided that the television stations must always disclose the sources of their news to the public, as opposed to incorporating them as part of their authentically created new from their newsrooms (). Nevertheless, despite this notice, the airing of the video news release by the television stations has not ceased, with most of them deleting the notifications from their clients, and then attributing the same to human error. Considering that such video news release brings financial benefits to the television stations, it has become difficult for the stations to implement the requirements of the FCCs April 2005 Public Notice, rather opting to continue airing the fake new without the public knowledge. The effect of this is that the public receives ambiguous, unbalanced and at time misleading information and acts on the same, to their disadvantage ().
Farsetta, D. & Price, C. (2006). Fake TV News: Widespread and Undisclosed. Center for Media and Democracy.
Farsetta, D. & Price, C. (2006). Still Not the News: Stations Overwhelmingly Fail to Disclose VNRs. Center for Media and Democracy. Read More