fcc fines comcast for airing fake news

from raw story: Cable giant Comcast violated the law by broadcasting video news releases without identifying them as sponsored programming, the Federal Communications Commission announced today. The ruling came in response to a complaint from Free Press and the Center for Media and Democracy, a media watchdog group focusing on VNRs.

"In this Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture (NAL), we find that Comcast Corporation (Comcast), which operates an affiliated regional cable network, CN8, is apparently liable for a forfeiture in the amount of four thousand dollars ($4,000) for violating Section 76.1615 of the Commission’s rules," the FCC ruled (word doc link).

The FCC ruling continued, "This rule generally requires cable operators engaged in origination cablecasting to make sponsorship identification announcements when presenting matter in return for money, service, or other valuable consideration. We find that Comcast cablecast portions of a video news release (VNR) produced on behalf of 'Nelson’s Rescue Sleep' without also airing required sponsorship identification announcements."

"We're pleased to see the FCC is finally waking up to the issue of fake news," said Craig Aaron, communications director of Free Press. "But the fine levied against Comcast is just the tip of the tip of the iceberg. Video news releases dressed up as real news were uncovered at more than 100 stations. We hope the FCC will soon fine those stations and issue clear guidelines to end the epidemic of fake news once and for all."

flashback: korporate koin

news on the march

townhall: ron paul will place 2nd in iowa
from usa today: Patrick Ruffini makes the case this morning at the conservative Townhall blog that Republican Rep. Ron Paul will place second at the Iowa GOP's "straw poll" Aug. 11 in Ames... Hugh Hewitt, also writing this morning at the blog, thinks Ruffini may be over-thinking things.

left could push pro-israel voters to gop
from politico: Support for Israel has long been a tenet of both political parties... Yet pockets of anti-Israel sentiment are active in American politics and have found a home among a small group of Democratic lawmakers and leftist activists. While it's tempting to dismiss them as irrelevant, the left's views on Israel have in recent years seeped into mainstream politics.

study finds 'stealth ads' in newscasts
from oregon daily emerald: According to a study recently published in the journal Electronic News, authored by two University professors and a former journalism doctoral student, there is increasing pressure from advertisers to integrate ads in newscasts, and small markets are most likely to promote advertisers during news stories... Viewers may not be aware of the commercial aspects of news content.

abc honored for 'misleading' 9/11 series

from upi: ABC received a "Falsie" award for its Sept. 11 miniseries that the Center for Media and Democracy chided as the most misleading U.S. show of the year.

The organization - described by as a "left-leaning watchdog group" by Daily Variety - chided ABC's "Path to 9/11" as "an opportunity to rewrite history" launched by conservative filmmakers that directly contradicted the Sept. 11 commission report it was supposedly drawn from.

The Falsies are presented to shows deemed to be subliminal PR spin distorting the facts.

The runner-up for the dubious honor last week was the National Association of Broadcast Communicators, the organization that distributed pre-packaged "video news releases" that appeared to be legitimate TV news reports.

from 9/11 blogger: Listen to Paul Thompson' tell us why "Path To 9/11" was "misleading."