Video News Releases

PR Watch has been highlighting the rising influence of Video News Releases (VNRs) on network and local news. It's worth mentioning on this blog about digital rhetoric, because many of these fake news releases are concerned with the Internet and new techologies for communication.

Releases about Internet car buying, phishing scams , child-safe search engines, plasma video displays, and online dating play to viewers' insecurities about new media and technological interfaces. News stations often run these VNRs without any acknowledgement of the corporate sponsors who produce them. As a parent, I was particularly interested to read about the "Internet Mom" Robin Raskin, who has apparently used her editorial credentials as an expert on family-friendly practices and products related to technology to parlay profits as a covert spokesperson.