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Video news releases sometimes aired without attribution

Healthcare Strategist Trend Watch, April 21, 2006

An "epidemic of fake news" is infiltrating local television broadcasts across the country, according to a public interest group that monitors the public relations industry.

A 10 month investigation by the Center for Media Democracy, based in Madison, WI, turned up 77 instances where television stations ran video news releases from companies touting their own products or services, including Pfizer, General Motors, Intel, and Capital One. More than one-third of the time, according to the group, stations aired the video releases in their entirety without ever indicating the segment was not original reporting.

The full report, "Fake TV News: Widespread and Undisclosed," is available online at www.prwatch.org/fakenews/execsummary.

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