Join the Fight Against Fake News

Monday on Blog for Iowa, Arron reported that the Senate
Commerce Committee was considering a bill, the Truth in Broadcasting Act (S
967) addressing the issue of disclosure on VNR’s (government-produced,
prepackaged video news releases).  Here
is the watered down version of the original bill passed this week, but the
fight is not over….

The Truth in Broadcasting Act (S 967) was considered [this week] by the Senate
Commerce Committee. The original bill would have required a
“conspicuous” disclosure to accompany any government-produced or
-funded prepackaged VNR or the radio equivalent, an audio news release (ANR).

What the committee passed, however, was significantly
different. Even the name had changed, to the “Prepackaged News Story
Announcement Act.”

First, the revised Act drops the continuous on-screen
notification requirement for VNRs. Second, it calls for “clear
notification within the text or audio of the prepackaged news story,”
without specifying the minimum requirements for audience disclosure. Most
troubling, it allows that disclosure to be removed altogether, following rules
that the Act requires the Federal Communications Commission to develop.

According to to TV Week… “The bill clears the way for
TV news operations to continue using snippets of government-produced VNRs for
in their own stories, as they do currently, leaving the issue
of how to identify the material up to station news personnel.” The problem
is that nondisclosure – that's covert propaganda – is currently the norm.

But the fact that the revised
Act did make it out of the Senate Commerce Committee is a step, however small,
in the right direction. The legislative process is far from over, and the Act's
language can be strengthened as easily as it was weakened – if concerned
citizens get involved.

The Act's
main sponsors, Senators Lautenberg and Kerry, “tried to make it much
stronger,” but did not have the support of their colleagues. That can change
if enough U.S residents call or write their two Senators and Representative, to demand clear,
conspicuous disclosure accompanying all video or audio footage coming from the
government. In the case of VNRs, that must be a continuous, on-screen notification.
For ANRs, that must be an announcement, prior to and/or following the provided
audio.

The Center for Media and Democracy has been exposing
“fake news,” such as the ready-to-air faux TV reports known as video
news releases (VNRs), since 1993. Now, we have joined forces with the media
reform group Free Press, in an ongoing investigative and activist campaign to
say “No Fake News!”

The fight is far from over – in fact, it just got more
important. Get active and stay tuned.

(source)