When Spin Becomes News

Mike Donoghue is a member of a multinational information technology corporation where he collaborates on the communications guidelines and customer relationship strategies affecting the interactions with internal and external clients. He has analyzed, defined, designed and overseen processes for various engagements including product usability and customer satisfaction, best practice enterprise standardization, relationship/branding structures, and distribution effectiveness and direction. He has also established corporate library solutions to provide frameworks for sales, marketing, training, and support divisions.

  CRM   Stakeholder Management  

We've all seen infomercials (if only for a few seconds as we quickly scan the vast desert of programming in search of something palatable) that are thinly disguised attempts at selling us whiz-bang products and services. We've also seen "infotainment" and mockumentary pieces where a "neutral" party, usually a host/hostess Regis-like talk show combination, purportedly poses hard questions to a "guest" who in actuality is the sponsor.

Each one can be recognized pretty quickly for what it is--advertising in the form of paid programming, often appearing during the wee hours of the night/morning or when viewers are less likely to watch standard show offerings. They are junk food for an expensive diet of media outlets who would otherwise have to develop their own programming or show a test pattern for a number of hours.

Sometimes interesting, often ignored, they sustain cable and broadcast television channels alike and take away some of the cost of doing business. The problem is this medium has become more "seductive" in recent years so that it has become harder to distinguish fact from fiction--thus improving the effectiveness of the message.

And Now For the News…Or Is It?

You may have seen one, but not realized it--that is the nature of the beast.

Welcome to the world of the VNR. A Video New Release is a public relations …

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