The truth is non-partisan

NPR reports that "as resources have shrunk and profit pressures increased for TV newsrooms, some have chosen to take questionable shortcuts. Among them, the unattributed use of VNRs -- video news releases." VNRs produced by government agencies have gotten recent attention in newspapers. VNRs also are being produced by large corporations in an effort to "shape" the news. <http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4561627>

To compete with cable, many local stations are broadcasting VNRs without indicating the source. Many of these have been produced by government agencies and they appear in every way to be legitimate news features produced by news people. This phenomenon is being reported as if it is new and unique to the Bush administration. However, the use of radio and video news releases started during the 1980s, when "PR firms discovered that they could film, edit and produce their own news segments - even entire programs - and that broadcasters would play the segments as "news," often with no editing." (See John Stauber and Sheldon Rampton. Toxic Sludge Is Good For You: Lies, Damn Lies and the Public Relations Industry. Retrieved May 3, 2005 from http://www.prwatch.org/node/3518.)

An example is the release March 14, 2005 of a State Department produced news segment. In the news video, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announces the nominations of Karen P. Hughes as under secretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs and Dina Powell as assistant secretary of state for educational and cultural affairs. The VNR aired on many broadcast stations without any recognition that it was made by the State Department. This contravenes Journalism ethics and good news practice. (Retrieved May 3, 2005 from the News Market.)