CMD Makes History in the Fight Against Fake News! Date: Thu, 25 Oct 2007 07:01:20 -0500 (CDT) CMD MAKES HISTORY AGAIN! FCC Fines TV Stations for Airing Fake News Dear Friend of CMD, Here is history-making news that was censored off your TV: our groundbreaking investigation of widespread fake TV news has resulted in the first-ever fines levied for fake news by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). In 2006 our investigators caught over 100 TV stations airing corporate propaganda during their news broadcasts, so-called "video news releases" (VNRs) that the stations disguise as news but that are produced and paid for by corporations who benefit from the biased "reporting." Here at the Center for Media and Democracy we have spent years investigating this widespread but hidden scandal that has been going on for decades as a dirty secret inside the TV news industry. We've been a painful thorn in the side of VNR producers, their corporate clients, and the TV newsrooms that broadcast them as real journalism. Support our work today by giving through our secure server at www.PRWatch.org/donate and help us to stay strong, effective and independent! * In April 2006, we made history by releasing the first report proving beyond a doubt that VNRs are used extensively as part of TV news broadcasts, almost always without labeling or acknowledgment of the corporations who produced and provided them. * In August 2006, we made history when the FCC opened an investigation and sent letters of inquiry to each of the stations we caught in our first report. * In November 2006, we added to our historic findings by documenting even more stations using VNRs -- along with some that had already been sent FCC letters in August. The FCC began investigating these incidents, as well. * And now, just last month, history was made again when the FCC handed down its first ever fines for the unlabeled broadcast of VNRs -- the direct result of our research and the complaints that we filed along with our colleagues at Free Press. Just two weeks ago, we released a mini-report proving that stations are still airing unlabeled VNRs. That both keeps the pressure on the FCC to investigate, and lets TV stations know we are still watching them. The corruption of journalism that is fake TV news has been going on for decades. TV stations have done away with many real journalists and replaced their reporting with canned corporate propaganda stories. Busting fake news is not easy. We've put years of work and two-hundred thousand dollars into these efforts. We need your support to keep our work going -- please give generously today! Please go to our secure server at www.PRWatch.org/donate to give on-line, or send a check to the address below. Fake news is just one example of our successful watchdogging of corporate spin, government propaganda and the pollution of our information environment. We are also on the cutting edge of: * Exposing front groups posing as genuine grassroots that are really "astroturf" campaigns funded by corporations and political interests; * Collaborative citizen reporting on Congress through our Congresspedia project, and on Big Tobacco through our TobaccoWiki; * Investigative reporting that cuts through the spin about nuclear energy as a "green" alternative, the push for war with Iran, pharmaceutical companies using fear to sell their products, and many other critical issues. Please give today to ensure our unique and independent reporting. Go to our secure server at www.PRWatch.org/donate to give on-line. Will you consider becoming a monthly donor to CMD? Our sustaining donors provide us with a steady income stream that we can count on. CMD will be celebrating its 15th anniversary in 2008. We want to enlist 50 new donors at the $15 a month level by January 1, 2008. That would mean almost $10,000 in additional steady, reliable donations per year. Will you help us make that goal? You can go to go to www.PRWatch.org/donate and a recurring gift will be one of your options. If you sign up at the level or higher, we will send you a signed copy of Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber's most recent book, "The Best War Ever," plus a signed copy of their classic "Toxic Sludge Is Good for You." Perfect for adding to your own library, or using for end of the year gift giving. Thanks, Your friends at CMD P.S. Please give generously today -- we refuse grants from corporations, government and unions to maintain our independent reporting, and we need your support! Go to www.PRWatch.org/donate to give on-line today!