Two public-interest groups—Free Press and the Center for Media and Democracy—have asked the Federal Communications Commission's four commissioners to investigate “all broadcasters who distribute government-sponsored news reports without properly identifying the source.”
The two groups said in a letter dated March 21, “We are writing you today on behalf of the nearly 40,000 Americans who have singed a petition” calling for the investigation of the use, by broadcasters, of video news releases (VNRs).
The petition has been circulated by Free Press and appears prominently on the group’s Web site under the heading “Stop news fraud.”
The interest-group letter was released yesterday (March 21) and coincided with FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein’s announcement on the Ed Schultz show that same afternoon, that the commission had received the 40,000 complaints.
This week’s events and the petition follow on the heels of a March 15 letter from Sen. Daniel Inouye, D., Hawaii, who asked the FCC to investigate the use of VNRs by broadcasters. A March 13, New York Times article reported that numerous federal agencies have hired professional PR firms to produce VNRs for distribution to local newscasts. Link
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