I know things are tough in newsrooms across the country, fewer people doing more work, but how can stations be excused who put entire news releases on their web site as "news"?
Here's one example from an Alabama FOX station.
How can you spot a news release vs an actual story written by a journalist?The News Release, as in that case, starts with this:
Get it? A nice positive statement about your tax dollars hard at work. ADEM is on the job! We're protecting you! They even left the contact information at the bottom!
An actual story written by a reporter might begin like this:
A pure statement of fact, perhaps including an interview with a construction company that has to truck debris to a landfill rather than burn it about the cost of the no-burn ban. Or perhaps asking if anyone has ever been fined or jailed for violating it the ban. (I'm betting not!).
I've actually seen a Montgomery TV station (No, not the group where I work) do the same thing, cutting and pasting a news release as "news" online. Of course the same folks have also aired what are called VNR's* intact without any disclaimer.
A very slippery slope they are on....if news releases online are OK as "news", then how can news consumers know when they're being fed a party line rather than the truth in other stories?
[*A VNR is a video news release..it looks like a news report, but it was produced by a company or entity promoting a product or service. Nowhere in broadcast journalism is that considered acceptable. Nowhere.]
[The Monday Morning Media Memo is a regular feature of this website.]
Here's one example from an Alabama FOX station.
How can you spot a news release vs an actual story written by a journalist?The News Release, as in that case, starts with this:
The Alabama Department of Environmental Management is protecting the air quality by banning open burning during the warmer months of the year.
Get it? A nice positive statement about your tax dollars hard at work. ADEM is on the job! We're protecting you! They even left the contact information at the bottom!
An actual story written by a reporter might begin like this:
A yearly ban on outdoor burning is about to begin in (fill in your town) to prevent additional air pollution during the Summer months.
A pure statement of fact, perhaps including an interview with a construction company that has to truck debris to a landfill rather than burn it about the cost of the no-burn ban. Or perhaps asking if anyone has ever been fined or jailed for violating it the ban. (I'm betting not!).
I've actually seen a Montgomery TV station (No, not the group where I work) do the same thing, cutting and pasting a news release as "news" online. Of course the same folks have also aired what are called VNR's* intact without any disclaimer.
A very slippery slope they are on....if news releases online are OK as "news", then how can news consumers know when they're being fed a party line rather than the truth in other stories?
[*A VNR is a video news release..it looks like a news report, but it was produced by a company or entity promoting a product or service. Nowhere in broadcast journalism is that considered acceptable. Nowhere.]
[The Monday Morning Media Memo is a regular feature of this website.]
Thanks, Tim, for such a great piece (another in a long line) and for opening our eyes to news manipulation. I had noticed, being home in the US over the last few months, that any number of stories seemed "canned" but did not know the source. This is truly a concern as we seem more and more being "fed" by one party line or another.
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