PR Agency DTV Report to FCC Sought Unusual Releases
A public relations firm awarded a $1.7 million FCC contract recommended promoting digital TV using a method that some journalism professors and others disdain, but the FCC rejected that approach. Besides more traditional ways to boost DTV awareness in the parts of a campaign starting this month and running through February, PR company Ketchum recommended writing so-called drop-in articles or “matte” releases -- basically, news releases in the style of feature articles. These pieces usually don’t identify the client paying for them, and Ketchum didn’t recommend that those it proposed to the FCC do so. That part of the plan raised ethical questions among the professors and a PR expert. The commission decided against using the drop-in stories, said an agency spokeswoman.
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Ketchum wanted to send out six such releases, two each for general audiences, African-Americans and Hispanics. In the final phase, from November through February, a release would be written for “the general public” and one for “Hispanic media,” said Ketchum. The March 5 report’s release has stirred controversy at the FCC (CD Special Report April 23 p9).
Such releases are aimed at newspapers, said Ketchum, describing them as “a formatted, consumer-related article provided to an approved vendor for distribution to key newspapers across the country.” Such “media tools” allow “your message to be disseminated unfiltered by commentary” because editors normally use them “to supplement staff- written stories to fill soft news sections of the paper,” it said. A Ketchum official working on DTV education declined to comment.
Use of such releases would be unethical if not attributed to the FCC, as Ketchum seemed to be suggesting, said George Washington University journalism professors Mark Feldstein and Mike Shanahan, both former journalists. “The drop-in matte release is in most cases designed to be seen as the product of a reporter or a journalist,” Center for Media and Democracy Executive Director John Stauber said. “What Ketchum is proposing here is all very typical [of] big budget public relations campaign[s].” The group has complained to the FCC about video news releases that didn’t identify sponsors.
Had the FCC decided to do as Ketchum wanted, it would have reviewed the material before allowing Ketchum to send it out and would have made sure the releases credited the FCC, said the commission spokeswoman. Releases, if used, would have listed the FCC Web site and phone number, she added. Feldstein said Ketchum’s proposal “is all about news management, propaganda really” and “reeks to me, just looking at it,” noting that the PR company didn’t say that it would disclose FCC involvement with such releases. Ketchum seems to try to “take advantage” of reduced newsroom staffs by offering such packages, said Shanahan. But he, Feldstein and Stauber said such releases would be less dubious if they identified the FCC.
Ketchum’s report was posted April 10 on dtv.gov, the same day it went to commissioners, said the FCC spokeswoman. The delay between the report’s completion and release, which irked at one commissioner, occurred because it took time to get approval from Ketchum to release it, she said. NTIA posted a similar plan to its Web site and it took time to get Ketchum to approve its release, too, she said.
Ketchum endorsed less controversial traditional outreach to poor, rural and non-English speaking consumers about digital TV. They include public service announcements aired on radio and TV and posted on Clear Channel Outdoor billboards. Ketchum also recommended improving dtv.gov, distributing a PowerPoint presentation on the transition to FCC staffers and others and producing video segments for public distribution.