The best way to catch ad avoiders is to plant the promotion in a news story. Take the latest 'miracle drug' story on last nights news - was it genuine news or was it just a carefully packaged VNR. TV newsrooms love these free news items that are circulated around the networks, it saves them time and money. But it pushes out community news and genuine investigative reporting.
"Professional electronic journalists should: Clearly disclose the origin of information and label all material provided by outsiders."
Radio-Television News Directors Association Code of Ethics
Trend: Fake News Items Real news items are being replaced by slick corporate promotions and goverment messages. Video News Releases (VNRs) prepared and supplied by corporations and governments are slotted into evening bulletins.VNRs secretly promote pharmaceuticals, government programs, medical information and public service messages. Newsrooms save time and money by running VNRs reducing staff costs and studio production fees. According to a recent Nielsen Media Research Survey, about 80 percent of U.S. news directors air VNRs several times a month, and 100 percent of American television newsrooms now use VNRs in their newscasts.
Case Study: MediaBlitz® TVA productions offers a Public Relations product called MediaBlitz®, which promises to get your story placed on our network of 1,100 TV stations, 40 major airlines (in-flight programming), 6,600 radio stations, 10,250 newspapers, 400 magazines & journals, and thousands of news portals. We have a team of over 140 people including a large Media Relations Department to maintain our carefully cultivated contacts in our database and to keep track of which formats broadcasters and editors need---and their editorial calendars... And we offer the strongest track record and guarantees in the industry. Successes include a blitz that resulted in company VSNIs share price nearly tripling. A Senior citizens lobby group SCAN confirmed that TVA was instrumental in getting new national legislation passed. Spotlight aired intensively in Washington D.C. while bill was being considered by Congress.
The TVA website claims that over 20,000 TV, radio and print media outlets have come to rely on their ready-made news features to meet their own growing need for editorial content due to staff cutbacks.
http://www.tvaproductions.com
"...filled with engaging graphics and provocative but easy-to-follow guidelines for maintaining autonomy in a world made of marketing." Douglas Rushkoff
"...filled with engaging graphics and provocative but easy-to-follow guidelines for maintaining autonomy in a world made of marketing."