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Fake News Is No Joke

By Danny Schechter, MediaChannel.org. Posted April 12, 2006.


Concealed ads posing as news is bad; even worse is the daily drivel that passes for 'real' news.
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By all means, lets support the campaign against "fake news" on TV. That's a reference to the undisclosed use by local news outlets of PR company-produced ads dressed up to look like news. A study by the Center for Media and Democracy found that 35 commercially driven news packages had been inserted in or run adjacent to 77 newscasts without attribution.

The practice involves Video News Releases, and it is wrong and it should be stopped. It's a form of disguised commercial posing as news story. It's deceptive, and probably violates FCC regulations.

But let's not stop there.

Fraudulent advertising is all over TV. All those ads urging us to "tell your" doctor to prescribe colorfully packaged pills, all those weight loss claims and phony credit card and debt consolidation spots. And then there is paid product placement in dramatic programming, and probably soon in the news.

In fact, how many advertisements could survive real truth tests? Most political ads fail, and I would guess that many commercial ads do as well.

We are even getting ads from people who are DEAD! Eonline.com carried a story on a "very important message" from Chris Farley -- from beyond the grave:

"Eight years after his fatal overdose, the late Saturday Night Live funnyman has been resurrected for a series of billboard advertisements plugging a new treatment for drug and alcohol abuse from Hythiam Inc."

Even worse, there are three times as many opinionizers on the air than journalists. PR firms pitch them guests and issues. Together, they insidiously dominate the public discourse often shaping the news agenda. All too often this accepted practice is not considered "fake news."

Faking it

Evan Derkacz of AlterNet reported on this latest media scandal this way in PEEK:

"They've been faking it.

"Clear Channel, News Corp./Fox Television, Viacom/CBS Corp., Tribune Co. and Sinclair Broadcast Group, among others, have all aired Video News Releases (VNR), corporate-sponsored ads masquerading as news, according a report from the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) and Free Press.

"I feel so cheated, so used, so so so … betrayed. According to Tim Karr nearly half of the American public is reached by the stations implicated in the report and:

'Despite repeated claims from broadcasters that they do not air VNRs as news, the new report reveals just the tip of the iceberg. Instances of fake TV news documented by CMD likely represent less than 1 percent of VNRs distributed to local newsrooms since June 2005. Fraudulent news reports have likely been aired on hundreds of more local newscasts in the past year.'"

OK, wait a minute, this is bad, but is it the worst problem we have to contend with on TV news? No way. It's not the occasional concealed ads posing as news that we should worry about, but the deceptive information and usual drivel we see day after day and night after night that calls itself news.

Getting at the more serious problem


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Danny Schechter writes a daily blog for MediaChannel.org. He is the author of "Embedded: Weapons of Mass Deception -- how the media failed to cover the war on Iraq" (Prometheus).

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BUSH AND CHENEY REMOVED FROM OFFICE
[Report this comment]
Posted by: Tom Degan on Apr 12, 2006 2:15 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
WASHINGTON D.C. UPI
President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney were forcibly removed from office by the House and Senate after months of outrage and threatened revolution by the American public. The Washington politicians, seeing the political writing on the wall did what no pundit would have predicted as late as two weeks ago. "The senator had no choice", an unnamed aid to Sen. Bill Frist told United Press, "It was either this or be defeated in November".

Early in the year, as the widespread corruption and incompetence of the Bush administration was becoming clear to even the most partisan republicans, the topic of impeachment was off limits to even most democrats. All of that changed in April. As more evidence in the CIA leak case started to take hold of the American conciousness, a grassroots movement of outraged citizens mushroomed into a full sized national revolt. On the first saturday in June, a mass demonstration of two and a half million people came down to Washington, invading the capital and the White House. For their safety, the president and vice president were removed from the roof of the Executive Mansion to the realtive security of Camp David where they remained in a bunker for four months until they were taken into custody by the United Nations security forces and handed over to the Hague yesterday where they will be put on trial for crimes against humanity. Their trial is expected to begin in the late summer of 2007.

In a related story, former White House press secretary Scott McClellan was taken into custody after he ran out into the street in front of his home screaming, "I'm a little pixie, watch me pee"! Mr. McClellan has been hospitalized for what doctors described as "nervious exhaustion".

Ahh! Fake news....

Pray for peace.

Tom Degan
Goshen, NY
tomdegan@frontiernet.net

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Start by Covering News on AlterNet
[Report this comment]
Posted by: anothername on Apr 12, 2006 2:36 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Why should we demand real news on television? We cannot even find it on AlterNet many days. We find rants, personal stories, and post-event analysis, but we rarely find current events presented or discussed unless it comes from the latest White House or Republican Congressional Caucus fiasco.

AlterNet had an item on the Paris protests, but what about the attempts, some successful, in New York City to create two-tiered pay levels for transit workers and police officers?

AlterNet, like most other publications, has ignored the idiocy of the soon-to-be-signed Massachusetts law requiring every one to have health insurance. There are so many things wrong with this requirement, but most of the media coverage I've seen is how wonderful it is for Republicans and Democrats to work together for an innovative approach.

(We have tax cuts supposedly for Americans to control their own money, then we tell people they have to buy insurance just for breathing. We tell people they have to buy health insurance, even if it means not investing in an IRA for retirement, but we do nothing to offer affordable health care without unaffordable insurance.)

AlterNet has not presented information on the Real ID Act or the demand by Homeland Security that drivers' licenses no longer can be renewed by mail starting in 2008. (I'm waiting for the news release saying that the Internet cannot be used, either.)

These are just a few of the stories that should be covered but are not.

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» RE: $$$$$ Posted by: AlienSlave
» You know where our real power is? Posted by: Lincoln fan
Nobody Follows The Money In Illegal Immigration
[Report this comment]
Posted by: dlf on Apr 12, 2006 5:27 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
RE: Question for Josh
Posted by: joshua_holland@alternet.org on Apr 11, 2006 11:22 AM [Report this comment]

Legal residents are more likely to give information to census takers, more likely to be engaged in politics, etc.

You claim the census bureau to be junk data. Funny how we use it for almost all governmental and electoral functions.

Apparently Josh thinks so too!

Some interesting information regarding NGO's and the Census:
Congress does not intend that the prohibition should apply when beneficiaries receive benefits in the form of certificates, vouchers, or other forms of disbursement redeemable with nongovernmental entities. Where the character of the aid goes directly to the ultimate beneficiary in the form of a voucher or certificate, the beneficiary exercises personal choice as to where to use the voucher or certificate, and may or may not choose to redeem it at a religious provider which incorporates worship or instruction in its provision of services. Congress has recognized and allowed such use of vouchers and certificates in the Child Care and Development Block Grant of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858 et seq.)

Could this be why the Catholic Church and Christian Groups are so invested in "helping" illegal immigrants? And why these very groups are fighting so hard, to not be considered criminal for breaking the law, while receiving government big bucks?

(d) STATE AUTHORITY TO PROVIDE FOR ELIGIBILITY OF ILLEGAL ALIENS FOR STATE AND LOCAL PUBLIC BENEFITS- A State may provide that an alien who is not lawfully present in the United States is eligible for any State or local public benefit for which such alien would otherwise be ineligible under subsection (a) only through the enactment of a State law after the date of the enactment of this Act which affirmatively provides for such eligibility.

Could this be why NGOs like La Raza push so hard for illegal immigrants to fill out the census forms? Apparently if they did the government provides funding for services provided to them. This kind of mixed message on the part of the Fed is at the heart of the argument. For every law that makes illegal entry a crime, there is a provision that ignores the law. Perhaps it's time to replace your tired old representative. They created this maze, we need new representation to knock it down, and make our laws make sense.

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GO-WITNESS-REPORT
[Report this comment]
Posted by: eileenflmng on Apr 12, 2006 5:56 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Because of all of the above and more,
I was compelled to GO-WITNESS-REPORT
the true facts on the ground in Israel Palestine,
And have done it three times thus far,
since June 2005,
I have lived in the
Little Town in Occupied Territory of Bethlehem
and traveled throughout the West Bank.

Streaming on WAWA is 5 minutes from the DVD:
30 MINUTES WITH VANUNU

Vanunu's FREEDOM OF SPEECH TRIAL continues May 1st.

Will the USA Media ever report on the historic case of a democracy denying the inalienable right to FREE SPEECH???
So far they are missing in action,
but WAWA is DOING SOMETHING:

http://www.wearewideawake.org/

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Maybe it a natural evolution of the media...
[Report this comment]
Posted by: kokun on Apr 12, 2006 7:34 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I've been following the recent discussion of the fake news with great interest. And it seems to me that the wide-spread proliferation of the fake news and the no-news news might be the natural part of the corporatization process and the communications evolution. Several decades back when the current system of broadcasting networks took shape the amount of information in the information supply/demand equation was orders of magnitude smaller than it is now. So the old linear format of the news show worked. I think now we're getting to the point where the old show formats, and even the 24 hour news formats, are being overwhelmed by the amount and the multi-dimensionality of the content and they don't know how to deal with it. This in concert with the corporate appetite for cutting costs and maximizing profits results in a lot of easy cheap content being presented as news. I think there's a silver lining to this phenomenon. Instead of trying to make the current system better let them continue to discredit their impartiality and journalistic integrity. If the current trend continues eventually a significant percentage of the population will have as much trust in these news shows as they have in the late-night infomercials. New formats and sources will move in to fill this credibility void. Web broadcasts, podcasts, web only TV stations (similar to the community radio stations), etc. are becoming more mature and wide spread. In the process these new formats are removing the news control from the hands of a few networks and putting them in the hands of the people. I'd say that's a good thing.

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Real News is a Rare Commodity
[Report this comment]
Posted by: NoPCZone on Apr 12, 2006 7:36 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I watched Frontline on PBS last night. The show was about the Tank Man of Tiananmen Square and the changes that have happened to China since then. Real journalism of the first order. It was informative, interesting and wonderful. Something you will never see on a cable news channel or the major networks anymore.

Back when we had a real FCC the news was something completely different from the infotainment we get today. At the dawn of the Reagan Administration, CBS aired a report called 'The Defense of the United States' over 5 nights of prime time. Since Reagan was proposing the largest peacetime buildup of our military in history, they took huge financial hit and gave a true in-depth look at the situation. They would never do that today.

In that day and time the networks had reporters, chosen not for looks or Q scores, all over the world. Today, the networks get most of their international coverage by contract with a voice-over by a small London outpost. Reporters would stay in an assignment for years, learning of and about the culture and politics of the area.

Today's blow-dried news readers do stand-ups in a protected hotel balcony on assignments measured in weeks. They let local Iraqis get shot, kidnapped and blown-up for them. There are exceptions, like Bob Woodruff of ABC, but all too few. Network news people used to mock local TV news-- now it has become local TV news.

The networks say they can't cover the world like that anymore because of cost. I say Bullsh*t. Equipment is lighter, less expensive and of higher quality than at any time in the history of TV. Broadband Internet, Fly-Away satellite ground stations, Iridium Satellite Phones have put the entire world within the reach of any broadcaster that chooses to. It's the 'star' salaries that get all the money now.

The $15 million + that Les Moonves is giving to Katie Couric, a newsreader- not a journalist, could pay for a number of overseas bureaus to better inform the audience. The fact that CBS chief Les Moonves put the head of CBS Sports in charge of news and hired someone who has spent the last 15 years doing fluff on the Today show to anchor the CBS Evening News should tell you all you need to know.

It's amazing that PBS, which operates on a shoestring budget, can produce Frontline, Now, NewsHour and other high quality programs even as the networks claim to be unable to. The fact is the commercial broadcasters can, but choose not to. They big media companies are using the public airwaves, which you and I own, for their profit. They have no interest in serving the public interest.

If you missed the Tank Man on Frontline, you can read more about it, get background and watch it online-- all without ads-- at the PBS web site.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tankman/

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What??!!! You're WATCHING that crap...?
[Report this comment]
Posted by: chasaturn on Apr 12, 2006 8:15 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I find it hard to nelieve that ANYONE watches the news on TV. There are so many much more rewarding things to do. Like give yourself an enema. Get all the lint out of your bellybutton. Clean the trap in the bathroom sink drain. Drink a jug of Liquid Plumber...

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Let's stop pretending.
[Report this comment]
Posted by: monkeywrench on Apr 12, 2006 8:45 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
This article reminds me of a phrase from workers in the old Soviet Union: "We pretend to work, and they pretend to pay us."

By golly, we have nearly the same thing here: "They pretend to report the news, and we pretend to believe it."

It's time to stop pretending.

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No news because of no investigative reporters
[Report this comment]
Posted by: thoughtcriminal on Apr 12, 2006 9:00 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Where have all the reporters gone? There are a few who actually do the job - establish sources within government agencies, carefully fact-check their stories, get them out through the editorial screen - only to be attacked by their editors and fired by their corporate bosses for telling the truth. There are those who walk a fine line and break important stories - Dana Priest comes to mind.

Alternet is opinion by and large; perhaps they don't have the budget to support an independent reporter and necessary supportive team (like Greg Palast, who can only write for non-US press). US journalism graduate schools have become training grounds for professional propaganda experts (oh, I'm sorry, that's 'public relations' - no, I meant to say 'educators of the public').

Want to know where we are going? Here's a little excerpt from Orwell's 1984:

The Party said that Oceania had never been in alliance with Eurasia. He, Winston Smith, knew that Oceania had been in alliance with Eurasia as short a time as four years ago. But where did that knowledge exist? Only in his own consciousness, which in any case must soon be annihilated. And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed-if all records told the same tale-then the lie passed into history and became truth. "Who controls the past,"' ran the Party slogan, "controls the future: who controls the present controls the past." And yet the past, though of its nature alterable, never had been altered. Whatever was true now was true from everlasting to everlasting. It was quite simple. All that was needed was an unending series of victories over your own memory. "Reality control," they called it; in Newspeak, "doublethink."

Reality control indeed. I personally know of many Americans who will call you a 'conspiracy theorist' and snigger if you tell them that the U.S. once gave military support to Saddam Hussein, or that US companies supplied the chemicals and technology for gassing the Kurds.

By the way, anyone else notice how hard the New York Times makes it to access their archives? No doubt 'The Committee' likes this better then free access.

How to change this? Bit by bit - first of all, reimpose the ban on pharmaceutical advertising, which is dishonest and dangerous as well. Move on from there to public financing of elections and equal time measures on TV for political candidate statements. Devise strict 'truth in advertising rules' and enforce them. Most importantly, quite using these techniques yourself - I can't stand it when Democrats use the same slimy PR techniques that Republicans rely on - just tell the truth and forget about your focus group recommendations.

In Newspeak, my entire comment could be summarized with one word: crimethink.

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BETRAYAL
[Report this comment]
Posted by: Roverton on Apr 12, 2006 9:22 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Sometimes the weatherman is correct.

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» RE: BETRAYAL Posted by: zipper696
so much crap left to sell - let's do it on the tv!
[Report this comment]
Posted by: chanceny on Apr 12, 2006 12:46 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
What's the big deal? TV news has been bringing us bullshit for years. Their ratings depend on slinging the crap that the public seems to enjoy. Why not interrupt the programs they deliver that are dedicated to missing blondes, policecar chases, kiddie porn stings and all other remarkably revelant issues, with the equivalent messages from their sponsors? Anyone being fooled by these ditties deserves to buy a popeil pocket fishcutter or some Susan Lucci jewels. Fool me once, shame on you - not really - fool me once with this shit, shame on me forever!

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Network self-promotion as news filler
[Report this comment]
Posted by: Michael Robin on Apr 12, 2006 1:20 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I get tired of watching network news with more self-promotion and self-attribution than content. Promotional previews of news-magazine shows to be broadcast later, how is that news? It seems that if the network isn't doing a Special Show on a topic at a later date, it isn't news. If you watched only Fox, ABC, and CBS, you might never have realized that the Winter Olympics even happened. But to watch NBC, the Olympics was the ONLY event happening in the world. Hmmm.
How does this drivel satisfy the FCC requirement for public service content?

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Time to spill some beans
[Report this comment]
Posted by: jeffrey7 on Apr 12, 2006 4:54 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
As a trained Broadcaster I feel it necessary to bring some light to the readers. T.V. 'is' programing. The 'News' has always been a propaganda machine,even it's name was contrived from the mixing of the letters for North,South,East and West, figuring the anacronym would give the 'feeling' of
being completely informed. News People consider what they do a 'Show' no diffrent than American Idol. The image they project is contrived,spoken word is done so in such a way as to be 'authoritative'
Fake news bits is just the tip of the iceberg. Entertainment Tonight, Inside Edition and all the other T.V. newsmags are fronts. Their only purpose is to make sure that at the same time every day there will be a certain number of People off the streets,in their homes,getting their information from the trusty 'tellie' than from talking to your friends and neighbors.
Don't trust the Media,any Media. If you get a 'feeling' that a story does'nt add up,honor that because it's more than likely true. Use the media properly. To observe how the Beast tries to work. Share your observations with the People you know.
You'll surprise them with what you've found out and they may surprise you with some things you've missed and together
you'll both get the real picture of just how messed up things really are and just whom the real Enemy is.

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clinker
[Report this comment]
Posted by: cottontail on Apr 12, 2006 9:47 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
This just in from the WAR ROOM
Andrew Card: The city is awash in unfounded rumors that this administration's policies and war plans are disastrous, so the president thought we should get together and get some fresh ideas on how to counter this potential trouble.
Dick Cheney: Who the hell cares? The press will publish what we tell them. They always do.
The Prez: Are you sure, Dick?
Stephen Hadley: I'm concerned George Tenet will spill his guts and then the shit'll hit the fan.
Scooter Libby: Get rid of him, give him a medal and a big pension.
Cheney: F___ him.
Dan Bartlett: Dick, there's a lady present.
Cheney: Mr. Vice President to you, a__hole.
Condi Rice: Don't mind me, I kinda like rough laanguage from tough guys.
Card: We know, of course, they'll find no WMDs, so we need a fallback position.
Hadley: Maybe they'll find Saddam and presto--our troubles are over.
General Myers: Apparently you folks know nothing of Iraqi culture or history. If these sectarian factions that go way back, start killing each other in the struggle for dominance, all hell could break loose.
Cheney: Who gives a big rat's ass?
Josdhua Bolten: Mr. Vice President, you can do better than that.
Cheney: F___'em.
Rice: Why don't we launch a massive media blitz to announce that our goal is to spread democracy in the Middle East. Fox News will lead the charge and the rest will follow, especially that idiot Wolf Blitzer.
The Prez: That's what I was telling Laura just the other day. Or was it Harriet Myers? Turd Blossom, what's your take on all this?
Karl Rove: Until I can be assured the NSA is not taping these sessions I'm keeping my mouth shut. First thing you know there'll be a special prosecutor and none of us will be safe.
The Prez: Alberto Gonzales and John Yoo tell me I can do as I damn please as long as I'm a war president, and that's not going to change. Besides a couple of new Justices (wink, wink).
Gen. Myers: That Abu Graib thing is starting to fester and Guantanamo could be big trouble.
Cheney: Can't you control your own people? Before you know it Jon Stewart and Jay Leno will get hold of this stuff and then we're in deep shit. What's your opinion, Field Marshall?
Rumsfeld: No problem. We'll consfiscate all cameras. This thing will blow over in a couple of weeks as the insurgency is in its last throes. We'll all be feted in a ticker-tape parade down Fifth Avenue. Then we can go about the business of pumping oil and building those permanent bases, then finally cash in our Halliburton stock, which should be up to about $200 bucks a share by then. Your guys worry too much.

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Reminder...
[Report this comment]
Posted by: realmuzik on Apr 13, 2006 1:43 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
If you haven't already read EXCEPTION TO THE RULERS...do it instead of sit through more of that FAKE NEWS. Let's face it...the ONLY reason CBS hired Katie Couric is to lure her airheaded, lonely 18-34 demographic fans to watch what will most certainly be even more FAKE evening news--driven by the desperate/greedy advertisers and network honchos (Yes, including Moonves) who only care about that "sole" demographic group. Thankfully, I am able to watch the wonderful REAL NEWS show DEMOCRACY NOW! on my set. It's the ONLY reason I have satellite TV, let alone a TV at all.

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From Alternet's About Page
[Report this comment]
Posted by: dlf on Apr 13, 2006 7:40 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The negative impact of right-wing media: Over the past two decades conservative media has had a huge impact, and the results are disconcerting. First, most conservative media uses an ideological propaganda model that results in a more ignorant audience. One recent study showed that 80% of Fox viewers got the facts all wrong about the war in Iraq. Not only did they believe that Saddam Hussein had a chemical arsenal, they thought U.S. troops had actually discovered it and they believed the 9/11 Commission had beyond a doubt linked Hussein with al-Qaeda. Only 23% of the NPR/PBS audience held these misconceptions, and the percentage was even lower among those who get their news from the Internet.

I think there are Alter-net readers who would and have, said the same things about this online magazine.

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Fake news is no joke...
[Report this comment]
Posted by: Aussie Kim on Apr 18, 2006 6:05 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
...you mean like all that "evidence" indicating WMD in Iraq?

Fake news is deliberate and systemic.

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