Video News Releases -- TruthTheft in the news!

As I ramble around the internet, I run across a lot of stories. As I browse the fringes, sometimes I run across a story that seems so absurd that I have to check it out... and on occasion, it turns out to be quite true. This one caught me offguard and got me thinking.

It seems that some news channels are broadcasting not news, but something called a Video News Release (VNR): en.wikipedia.org...

This is a piece of film that appears to be a news segment, but is actually produced and sponsored by the public relations divisions of a PR firm, an advertising agency, a marketing firm, a corporation, or a government agency (or combinations of these groups). Sometimes they are deliberately aired as news reports on news channels.

The Center for Media and Democracy has a very eye-opening page on them:
www.prwatch.org...

What surprised me (or, rather, I hadn't thought about it) is that this technique is decades old.

We've seen these reported on (the faked "news from US troops" flareup several years ago), but it appears to be fairly pervasive.

There are a number of government agencies that have guidelines for these productions (like this) :
www.cpsc.gov...

And here's just the ones that show up on the usa.gov site:
usasearch.gov...

It's not just the US government doing this:
www.prwatch.org...

Interesting, eh?

How do you tell the fake news from the other fake news? When all stories are subject to being slanted to the point of the absurd, you come down to it all being entertainment.

Then there is so much on the internet that is as bad or worse. Seems like there's no safe place to turn.

well. that settles it. the only news worth watching is officially Stewart and Colbert. at least they're on the up and up with their fake news, and despite being utter mockeries, manage to report more REAL news than many stations.

someone stop the world.. I wanna get off before it makes me hurl.

the trick is believe none of what you hear and half of what you see

You betcha Byrd.

Am I correct in what your uncovering for ATS people might me false media. False Media that can re-shape or change public opinion based on No-Fact or Media Release Manipulation?

Darn worrisome thing and doing it right in front of 'free press'. To me, kinda of controlling the public audience vi save the media through false pretenses?

Good article Byrd.

Dallas

i think most 'news' programs nowadays should be re-labeled as 'infotainment' rather than news.

the true test of whether what you are watching is 'real' news should be two questions that you ask yourself every single time you see a story reported...

1. IS this REALLY news
2. am i being told what to think about it (i.e. is it a one-sided biased story or critically examined from all sides)

real gritty investigative journalism also seems to have died a death in recent years (with the exception of worldwide netizens who beaver away tirelessly for months to prevent googled 'facts' to the converted or stir up the hornets nest - sadly hardly any of this hard work ever hits the mainstream headlines)

as an aside, many of you may have heard about the real news/IWT who may change all this or at least rock the boat enough to make those sailing on the good ship mainstream media very, very nervous if it takes of in a big way.

they are attempting to launch a news channel with no corporate sponsorship or advertising (relying on donations and subscriptions instead) and have many big names in journalism behind them. i truely hope that they succeed in their attempts to bring 'real' stories to the public attention rather than sponsored brainwashing ones