Fake News Is Hazardous to Your Health

Anyone who's ever looked at a package of cigarettes in the United States since 1965 is familiar with the Surgeon General's warning labels.

The tobacco industry did not want their product being labeled with, "Smoking causes lung cancer, heart disease, emphysema, and may complicate pregnancy." However, Congress determined that the public interest was best served by ensuring that everyone purchasing cigarettes knew of their ill effects. Providing this information didn't end smoking (today, 22 percent of U.S. adults use cigarettes), but it helped balance years of Big Tobacco's deceptive PR by simply presenting the facts in an appropriate, immediate and universal way.

Congress is now engaged in a similar debate about labeling "fake news." On May 12, public relations and broadcasting industry representatives testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation about the Truth in Broadcasting Act (S 967). Their remarks were reminiscent of how the tobacco industry responded to the threat of cigarette labeling four decades ago.

The importance of this issue is painfully apparent to anyone familiar with the Armstrong Williams scandal and other cases of "pundit payola." Fake news is also partly responsible for numerous instances of media deception related to the invasion and occupation of Iraq.

The current debate centers on a particular type of fake news -- prepackaged segments, called audio news releases (ANRs) when produced for radio, and video news releases (VNRs) when produced for television. Government agencies, corporations, industry groups and other large organizations have routinely used ANRs and VNRs since at least the 1980s; some claim VNRs date back to World War II-era newsreels. More recently, media consolidation and shrinking newsroom resources have resulted in broadcasters' increased reliance on such provided materials. Mounting concerns led the Government Accountability Office to rule in February 2005 that government-sponsored TV "news" reports are covert propaganda, unless their source is apparent to viewers.

Unfortunately, broadcasters commonly air ANRs or VNRs without disclosure. According to a survey by the Project for Excellence in Journalism, a quarter to a third of local news directors -- by their own admission -- disclose the source of VNRs occasionally, rarely or never. Other evidence suggests that non-disclosure may be an even bigger problem.

What Congress is now considering, thanks to increased public awareness and pressure, is how to ensure appropriate disclosure of government-funded "news."

The Truth in Broadcasting Act, sponsored by Sens. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) and John Kerry (D-Mass.), is one of four Congressional measures recently proposed to deal with fake news. The Act is strong in that it covers ANRs as well as VNRs. It also clearly specifies what constitutes disclosure. For ANRs, a verbal announcement would be required. For VNRs, the phrase "Produced by the U.S. Government" would have to be displayed "conspicuously" throughout the video.

However, the Truth in Broadcasting Act also has serious shortcomings. To begin with, it only addresses government-sponsored ANRs and VNRs, even though private corporations are the main source of fake news. Moreover, the Act doesn't explicitly cover additional audio or video footage, called radio "actualities" or video "B-roll," which are usually provided along with the prepackaged segment. Although these materials are not broadcast-ready, their content and presentation are still determined by parties with an interest in how the institutions, events and issues they deal with are perceived.

The Center for Media and Democracy would have loved to send one of our staff members to the recent Senate hearing. After all, industry was well-represented, by the heads of the Radio-Television News Directors Association (RTNDA), the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), and one PR firm that produces VNRs. Watchdogs inside the government -- the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and Government Accountability Office -- also testified, but no independent, public-interest perspective was represented.