Isn’t It Ironic
By Mitch Berg
The Strib loudly laments the fall of journalism.
“TV stations air PR puff pieces and call it news”, they whinge…:
Last month, the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) released its second report on television stations’ use of VNRs. One Minneapolis/St. Paul station was on the list. In June, KMSP-9 aired an entire, uncut VNR from General Motors. Station anchor Karen Scullin even introduced the narrating publicist, as if he were a reporter. No disclosure was provided to viewers.
While the need to clearly label such materials might seem obvious, an association of broadcast news professionals — the Radio-Television News Directors Association (RTNDA) — recently joined the PR industry in fighting to keep the status quo: many VNRs and no disclosure required.
Hmmm.
Yes. It would really be a problem if the media published uncritical puff pieces without giving the reader any context, wouldn’t it?
