Difference between revisions of "Fake news"

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*"Fake news is bad news for PR biz", ''Advertising Age'', January 17, 2005, page 16.
 
*"Fake news is bad news for PR biz", ''Advertising Age'', January 17, 2005, page 16.
 
*Jim Cameron, "[http://www.odwyerspr.com/members/0601comm_cameron.htm PR & Media: The Perfect Ethical Storm]" ''O'Dwyers PR Daily'', June 2, 2005. (Sub req'd).
 
*Jim Cameron, "[http://www.odwyerspr.com/members/0601comm_cameron.htm PR & Media: The Perfect Ethical Storm]" ''O'Dwyers PR Daily'', June 2, 2005. (Sub req'd).
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*"[http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/ny22_hinchey/morenews/063005govpropagandafloor.html
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*"[http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/ny22_hinchey/morenews/063005govpropagandafloor.html House Approves Hinchey Amendment To End Government Propaganda & Secret Contracts:] Measure To Appropriations Bill Would Stop The Practice Of Agencies
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House Approves Hinchey Amendment To End Government Propaganda & Secret Contracts:] Measure To Appropriations Bill Would Stop The Practice Of Agencies
 
 
Hiring Writers & Broadcasters To Covertly Promote Administration Policy", Media Release, June 30, 2005.  
 
Hiring Writers & Broadcasters To Covertly Promote Administration Policy", Media Release, June 30, 2005.  
 
*Erica Iacono, "[http://prweek.com/news/news_story.cfm?ID=239482&site=3 House bill limits use of funds for promoting administration policies]", ''PR Week'', July 6, 2005.
 
*Erica Iacono, "[http://prweek.com/news/news_story.cfm?ID=239482&site=3 House bill limits use of funds for promoting administration policies]", ''PR Week'', July 6, 2005.

Revision as of 08:42, 12 August 2005

The term fake news has become synonymous with government and corporate sponsored pre-packaged news provided as video news releases (VNRs) and audio news releases (ANRs) to news outlets.

A search of the Nexis media database indicates that the term was initially used more broadly. In May 1989 Adweek writer Barbara Lippert panned ads in which former newsreader Linda Ellerbee appeared in "in a fake news setting" hustling Maxwell House coffee. In August that year Ad Day's Ed Buxton criticised the use of "the fake news bite" where reporters re-enacted news events as part of a news story.

However it was a cover article by David Lieberman titled "Fake News" in a February 1992 edition of TV Guide that popularised the term. In his article Lieberman took the media and PR industry to task over video news releases. He argued that if footage from VNR's was used in news it should be labelled so that viewers were aware of its origin. If not, he argued, media outlets risked undermining their own credibility if they "pretend out of pride that what they broadcast is real news, instead of labeling it for what it is."

"There's a good chance that some of the news they [the public] see will be fake. Not that it's necessarily inaccurate. Just that it was made to plug something else. And it's something the PR community has grown skillful at providing," he wrote. The original article generated a dismissive response from the PR industry.

However, in June 1992 the Public Relations Service Council saw the need to assemble a committee to develop standards governing the level of disclosure in VNR's.

In April 1993 TV Guide once more returned to the subject with an article titled Fake News: All the PR that News Can Use". (See the Video news releases article for a more detailed review of the responses to Liberman's articles).

While controversy over VNR's diminished in the 1990's when it resurfaced in 2004 following Government Accountability Office investigation into government funded VNR's the fake news description was well established.

In late June 2005 the U.S. House of Representatives approved an amendment barring the White House and federal agencies for one year from contracting with PR firms and journalists to secretly promote policies through the use of fake news. "The passage of this amendment is a critical victory for the American people who, as a result of these secret government contracts with writers, broadcasters, and public relations specialists, have been unable to determine whether they are receiving real, objective news or government-sponsored propaganda," said Congressman Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), who chairs the Future of American Media Caucus and sponsored the amendment.

"A properly functioning democracy depends on a news media that is free of any conflicts-of-interest, especially with the government that it is supposed to be holding accountable." [1]

Other SourceWatch resources

Center for Media and Democracy campaign page on Fake News

External links

  • Barbara Lippert, "General Foods Maxwell House Coffee: For Maxwell House, Ellerbee Doesn't Quite Perk", Adweek, May 22, 1989.
  • Ed Buxton, "Ad Simulations Require Honesty to Reach Audiences", Ad Day, August 22, 1989
  • Darren Bosik, "TV Guide attack on VNRs is cheap shot, say video pros", O'Dwyer's PR Services Report, April, 1992.
  • PRSC developing set of standards codes for VNRs, O'Dwyer's PR Services Report, June 1992, page 46.
  • Darren Bosik, "Success of 'rotten' VNR told at seminar", O'Dwyer's PR Services Report, August, 1992.
  • "TV Guide calls VNRs 'fake news,' again", O'Dwyer's PR Services Report, April 1993, page 10.
  • Darren Bosik, "Video producers debate need for VNR ethics code", O'Dwyer's PR Services Report, April 1993, page 1.
  • Greg Hazley, "Ethics questioned, VNR pros sound off", O'Dwyer's PR Services Report, April 2004, page 1.
  • "Fake news is bad news for PR biz", Advertising Age, January 17, 2005, page 16.
  • Jim Cameron, "PR & Media: The Perfect Ethical Storm" O'Dwyers PR Daily, June 2, 2005. (Sub req'd).
  • "House Approves Hinchey Amendment To End Government Propaganda & Secret Contracts: Measure To Appropriations Bill Would Stop The Practice Of Agencies

Hiring Writers & Broadcasters To Covertly Promote Administration Policy", Media Release, June 30, 2005.

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