Fake news - and not the funny kind like The Daily Show

The PBS news show NOW recently aired a segment on "fake news" that showed the problem goes beyond the White House trying to buy itself a little good press by putting out taped segments that hype Bush Team programs for television stations to run as regular news segments. Corporations are in on the gig too.

The term 'fake news' has become synonymous with government and corporate sponsored pre-packaged news such as video news releases VNRs) and satellite media tour (SMTs).

VNRs are pre-packaged "news" segments and additional footage created by broadcast public relations firms, or by publicists within corporations or government agencies. VNRs look and sound like independently-gathered reports, but are designed to promote the products, services, public image and/or point of view of the client (s) who funded them. An SMT is an organized series of interviews funded by one or more clients.

The clips they showed on NOW were nothing more than commercials for products from companies and the stations were running them just like a news segment. And the problem is widespread.

Our investigation found newsroom use of 'fake news' stories is widespread and undisclosed, to the detriment of real journalism. The Center for Democracy and Media (CMD) identified 77 television stations - from those in the largest to the smallest markets - that aired VNRs or related SMTs, without disclosure to viewers. Collectively, the 77 stations reach more than half of the U.S. population.

You can find the story here.