Broadcasters Trying to Prevent Unidentified Use of VNRs
Broadcasters are trying to ensure video news release (VNR) material is identified to viewers when used, according to TV station officials. Stations are reminding employees they can’t use such footage without disclaimers alerting the audience to the source, among other steps. Meanwhile, FCC Comrs. Adelstein and Copps said the FCC should investigate 36 more stations a private report said used VNRs without full disclosure. Videos were aired after the FCC began probing more than 70 other stations accused of using them with no disclosure (CD April 7 p5), said activist group Center for Media & Democracy (CMD), which wrote the report.
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Since then another 8 stations named in the April report have aired more unidentified VNRs, said CMD. “Even a direct investigation is not enough by the FCC to snap them out of it,” Adelstein said: “We need to investigate these new allegations and get it completed quickly.” Copps, speaking on a conference call sponsored by media activist group Free Press, said the FCC should “conduct further investigation, determine whether and precisely how our rules have been violated and then take whatever steps are appropriate.” CMD listed stations it previously singled out as again airing VNRs undisclosed the past 6 months: WBRZ-TV Baton Rouge; WDAF-TV Kansas City; WPIX N.Y.; WCPO-TV Cincinnati; WSYX Columbus, O.; WYTV Youngstown, O.; KYW-TV Philadelphia; and WLBK-TV Lubbock, Tex.
Some VNRs aired without attribution were broadcast by accident, said officials we spoke with at 3 stations listed Tues. in CMD’s report. Promotional material for insurer Allstate ran on Young Bcstg.’s KLFY-TV Lafayette, La., when a new producer probably erred in selecting footage from a CNN news service, said News Dir. C.J. Hoyt. He likely forgot to tell the producer about making sure to identify VNR footage, said Hoyt. “It may not have been something I addressed directly to him,” he said: “It is our general policy to not run VNRs… It’s addressed with new people who come on staff.”
ABC’s KGO-TV San Francisco punished a producer who aired promotional material touting auto insurance, News Dir. Kevin Keeshan said: “The employee was disciplined because of it. It is a serious violation.” Since then, the station has required reporters and other station staff to get permission from the executive producer, assistant news dir. or Keeshan before using VNR material, Keeshan said: “We don’t use anything, edited or unedited, from a VNR unless it is an extremely unusual circumstance.” In such cases, the material is supposed to be flagged as promotional content, he said. ABC declined comment on its VNR policies.
KFMB-TV San Diego reminded all employees about rules against using VNRs without identification after a producer unwittingly used VNR material on a Halloween newscast, News Dir. Fred D'Ambrosi said. No action was taken against the employee, he said: “It was just an honest mistake.” --
Other TV stations owned by networks and large station groups aired VNRs, the report said. CMD said Fox’s KCOP-TV L.A. aired a promotional hearing aid video and KMSP-TV Minneapolis-St. Paul carried a segment touting General Motors cars with an executive of the automaker. Tribune stations WTIC-TV Hartford and WLVI-TV Cambridge-Boston were also listed in the report. Officials at Fox and Tribune didn’t respond to messages. Media General’s WFLA Tampa aired a promotional segment on a medical condition paid for by the American College of Physicians, while WJAR Providence ran video promoting a flu vaccine, CMD said. Company policy on VNRs is to avoid using them whenever possible, said Lou Anne Nabhan, vp-corporate communications. When they are used, she said, “VNRs must be labeled in a way that clearly discloses the source of the information and the viewer understands the material being broadcast was provided by an outsider.”
VNR use undermines arguments that local news will be bolstered if the FCC lets companies own more stations within a market, Adelstein said: “This is highly relevant to our media ownership proceeding.” Free Press is asking its 200,000 members to complain to the FCC about VNR use, Campaign Dir. Timothy Karr said at a media briefing. “The evidence suggests a strong tie between media consolidation and the tendency to abuse the airwaves with deceptive, pre- packaged propaganda,” said a Free Press e-mail to members.