No-See-Um VNRs A "Crisis" For PR Industry

Kevin McCauley at O'Dwyers PR Daily writes that despite video news release producers' hopes that the debate over fake news "would just blow away," it has become a "crisis" for the industry. "A simple solution," he suggests, is labeling VNRs. "A corporate or government credit on video material wouldn't matter much to today's TV watchers, especially younger ones who are bombarded with advertising," he wrote. Kevin Foley, the president of KEF Media Associates, responded that labeling is already "done by every responsible company in this business." However, two weeks ago Doug Simon of D S Simon Productions explained that there is a world of difference between labeling the opening frame that news producers see and labeling each VNR frame that viewers see. In tracking the use of his company's VNRs, Simon said, "Fewer than 10 percent of the pieces we get back have some sort of identification."