Video News Releases

No, I don't think that VNR's are ethical journalism at all. According to the Wikipedia summary of "Journalism Ethics and Standards", VNRs are unethical based on something from nearly every category of the foundations of ethical journalism. Ethical journalism is supposed to be objective, and "unequivocal separation between advertisements and news. All advertisements must be clearly identifiable as such." I watched a segment on the the Web site from FOX 25 in Oklahoma City, which framed a VNR from Chemistry.com as a news story with a lead-in and wrap-up from the anchor, and yet the VNR was nothing more than an advertisement for the dating Web site. It was not labeled as a VNR or ad, and the viewer was given no identification that it was not news done by KOKH. The fact that the package contained no identifiable footage, and was as generic as possible was he only way a viewer might have been able to tell it was a VNR. Also, according to the Wikipedia entry, "pictures, sound, and quotations must not be presented in a misleading context (or lack thereof). Simulations, reenactments, alterations, and artistic imaginings must be clearly labeled as such, if not avoided entirely." Since the piece was produced by the public relations arm of Chemistry.com, the scenes of a couple talking in a coffee shop were obviously staged, and yet there was no identification of any kind that indicated that what the viewer was seeing was not an authentic, spontaneous date.

VNR's are unethical, and they absolutely do create lazy journalism. However, the real people at fault should be the news directors and the stations who knowingly use VNR's as a part of the broadcast. They're taking the easy way out, and further damaging the reputation and integrity of the news media...an enterprise a large portion of the American public already doesn't trust to begin with. While they may be convenient, have a high production value, and make the jobs of reporters and programmers alike easier, Video News Releases and prepackaged "news" do much more of a disservice to real journalism than they do good.