PR agency people and their clients should thank the FCC for sending its recent letter to the 77 TV stations based on a media watchdog group's report investigating whether or not video news releases are identified as such for viewers.
Why? It's simple.
To comply with the law, either newscasters must begin crediting the video footage sources (a nice plug for our clients…please spell their names correctly) or they'll have no choice but to staff up their news teams and produce that much more of the local news themselves. They'll need to hire more assignment editors, local reporters and the much-coveted camera crews we invite to our special events, charity walks, news conferences, and trade shows. Gotta love that too.
What will stations decide? Follow the money. It’s cheaper to swallow some pride and source the footage or story. But if that’s too much for audiences and news directors to stomach, management and station ownership may need to open wallets and spend on people and equipment in the effort to preserve share, and revenues.
There's another possible consequence, which has stations cutting back on or consolidating local broadcast news, which is now happening with Fox stations in the Washington – Baltimore market(s?). News hungry audiences will probably rely more on national broadcast and local cable news--again, good news for publicists and clients. For instance, Washington DC area viewers who want to watch local news on cable, which should be free of FCC interference, can check out NewsChannel 8 on Comcast.
The FCC's letter may chill the VNR biz, but the side effect may be that new opportunities open up for savvy media relations pros. There's plenty of airtime for legitimate stories and sources to fill, one way or another.
John Seng
