[North-NV-Greens] Fwd: Help fight fake news

[Paul Etxeberri]

>
>
>Dear Weekly Spin reader,
>
>"Video news releases, masquerading as news" have been able to
>supplant real journalism due to media consolidation and one of its
>"most pernicious symptoms," the increasing commercialization of news
>media.  That's what the Federal Communications Commission's Jonathan
>Adelstein told an audience of nearly two thousand at the recent
>National Conference on Media Reform.
>
>Now that video news releases (VNRs) are finally beginning to receive
>the public scrutiny they deserve, the Center for Media and Democracy
>is increasing our efforts to stop fake news.  But we need your
>support to wage this important fight.
>
>Please, contribute now, using our secure online form:
>https://secure.groundspring.org/dn/index.php?id=1118
>
>In the Center's 1995 book "Toxic Sludge Is Good For You," John
>Stauber and Sheldon Rampton revealed how TV stations air VNRs,
>unattributed, presenting them as "news" to an unsuspecting public.
>Exposing such fraudulent journalism is at the core of our mission.
>
>Our campaign to stop fake news will go beyond the U.S.
>taxpayer-funded VNRs at the eye of the current storm.  Corporations
>pioneered fake news techniques, and they still dominate the field.
>The pharmaceutical and health industries rely heavily on fake news to
>sell their products.  And while proposed U.S. federal legislation
>would require disclosure for government-sponsored VNRs and their
>radio equivalent, audio news releases (ANRs), corporations would
>remain free to spread their propaganda covertly.
>
>We need your support to mount an effective campaign against VNRs,
>ANRs, paid pundits like Armstrong Williams and other distortions of
>our information environment, no matter who's behind them.  Please
>donate today:
>https://secure.groundspring.org/dn/index.php?id=1118
>
>Commissioner Adelstein challenged media activists to be "the troops
>that can and will call corporate media to account." He urged
>attendees of the National Conference on Media Reform to watch for
>undisclosed VNRs and product placements. "[I]f you catch them
>red-handed, send a formal complaint to the FCC and be sure to send a
>copy to me," he said. "Because we'll get it investigated. ... We're
>going to shut down this fraud that is being perpetrated on the
>American people by the media."
>
>The Commissioner's comments, along with the FCC's recent public
>notice on VNRs, mean that the time to act is now.  The Center and the
>non-partisan media reform group Free Press are launching an ambitious
>effort to track and monitor fake news, at the national and local
>levels.  But we need your help.
>
>You can be a part of the movement to stop fake news by contributing
>to the Center, either online at:
>https://secure.groundspring.org/dn/index.php?id=1118
>
>or by sending a check (made out to "CMD") to:
>Center for Media and Democracy, 520 University Ave, Suite 227,
>Madison, WI 53703.
>
>Thank you for your support of media democracy issues,
>
>Laura Miller
>Editor of PR Watch,
>the quarterly publication of the Center for Media and Democracy
>
>p.s. For more information on fake news and to learn how to get
>involved in the fight against it, visit our No Fake News page:
>http://www.prwatch.org/nofakenews
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-- 
Paul Etxeberri

"Forests precede civilizations and deserts follow"   ---Chateaubriand