Leading VNR Firm Responds to the Recent FCC Public Notice on Video News Releases

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 14, 2005--"Misdeeds by PR Firms and government PR people are to blame for yesterday's FCC Public Notice on sponsorship identification rules of Video News Releases (VNRs), and it could have a chilling effect on freedom of the press," says Douglas Simon, President & CEO, D S Simon Productions.

This is the link to the FCC notice: http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-05-84A1.doc

Established in 1986, D S Simon Productions has been described as a top five PR Video firm by the industry trade publication PR Week. The company does more than 200 PR Video projects a year that are provided to television stations for free, of which a small percentage are government related. Also, the company is an official Newsroom Resource of the Radio and Television News Directors Association (RTNDA).

The quotes below are for your use in your coverage of this story. For more in-depth interviews, you can contact Douglas Simon after hours on his cell phone at 917.952.7007, or reach Eric Wright in the office during business hours, or after hours on his cell phone at 917.612.6351.

On the FCC's Public Notice Issued Yesterday Pertaining to Sponsorship Identification rules as they relate to video news releases (VNRs):

While misdeeds by PR people (including government PR people) should be cracked down upon, I am concerned with government efforts to control the content of news programs. The notice points out that this disclosure is required on "controversial" stories not just VNRs and could limit the media's right to quote whistleblowers or rely on unnamed sources--a significant blow for press freedom.

On PR's misdeeds:

PR's misdeeds have created an environment where legitimate advocacy is thrown into the same cesspool as misleading behavior by the industry.

The last thing our industry should be doing is blaming the media for the times our colleagues have misled them. Failure to self-regulate effectively, if at all, has led us to where government regulations could be imposed limiting the rights of broadcasters to cover the news as they see fit.

Is it good PR practice to not disclose the sponsor when pitching the media?

Many PR practitioners incorrectly believe that they have a better chance of landing a story if they don't disclose their client. In fact, the opposite is true. In a survey of 132 reporters and producers at stations across the country, 80 percent said they almost never use a story when the sponsor has not been disclosed during the pitch. Unfortunately, less than half of PR pitches television stations receive clearly identify the sponsor according to the same survey. The survey was completed on April 4, 2005 and delivered to the Media Relations Conference.

Our policy on disclosure:

We require in our contracts that clients agree to allow us to disclose the actual funding source of all VNRs that are sent to the media both on the tape and in media pitch alerts. We do this not only to protect ourselves from those that would not want us to disclose the funding sponsor, but because you can't develop a good relationship with the media as a source if you don't build trust.

On the WatchDog groups that submitted letters to the FCC:

It is ironic that an organization named "Free Press" (which was listed in the footnotes of the FCC Notice) is contributing to having potential limits on press freedom. It seems like something from George Orwell.