Vote on VNR Disclosure October 20 [1]
Submitted by Diane Farsetta [2] on
On October 20, the U.S. Senate's Commerce Committee will consider the Truth in Broadcasting Act, "as part of a mark-up session with three other bills." (The meeting will be webcast, at www.commerce.senate.gov [3].) The Act would require government-funded video news releases [4] (VNRs) or audio news releases [5] to carry a clear disclaimer, such as a "conspicuous" tag reading, "Produced by the U.S. Government" visible "for the entire duration" of the VNR. PR Week assesses [6] the industry's reaction to VNR "flaps" and the Armstrong Williams [7] "imbroglio" and finds it to be "spotty" and "inconclusive." They write, "In April, Ketchum [8] unveiled its first-ever guidelines for disclosure. ... Just last month, Edelman [9] unveiled its first-ever code of conduct for employees. ... Other agencies," including Burson-Marsteller [10] and Porter Novelli [11], "have not officially codified policies regarding disclosure." See our "No Fake News!" page [12] for actions you can take to demand accountability for propagandists [13] and disclosure of all materials [14] provided to newsrooms by third parties.