[the_omnivore] Fake News Flash: Global Warming a Myth?

[Guest guest]

FAKE NEWS FLASH: GLOBAL WARMING IS A MYTH!

 

At least that's what residents of hurricane-ravaged Mississippi were told

when a local newscaster aired a fake news segment earlier this year. One

problem:

Viewers weren't told that the segment was bought and paid for by ExxonMobil

lobbyists.

 

The problem doesn't end in Mississippi. Free Press and the Center for Media

and Democracy today released a second groundbreaking report that exposes more

corporations placing propaganda as news on television stations across the

country .

 

This deception is illegal under federal rules and must be stopped.

 

Tell the FCC to Crack Down on Fake News:

http://action.freepress.net/campaign/fakenews2/8wwiu5urqjbx8bi?

 

All told, this investigation has snared more than 100 local stations slipping

corporate-sponsored " video news releases " -- promotional segments designed to

look like objective news reports -- into their regular news programming.

 

The evidence suggests that this abuse is more widespread, involving stations

in every state (For more visit our Fake News Map:

http://www.freepress.net/fakenews/map.php ). The advertisements, flogging

everything from arguments against global warming to porn-free search engines,

are

passed off to you, their viewers, as legitimate news reports.

 

In April 2006, after we first exposed this practice, broadcasters pledged

that they would come clean and stop infiltrating the airwaves with fake news. In

August, the FCC launched an inquiry into all 77 stations that were cited in

the first investigation. But the FCC investigation has gone nowhere.

 

Today's follow-up report captures an additional 46 stations airing corporate

propaganda -- showing that these abuses continue unabated, despite the ongoing

FCC inquiry. It's time the FCC stepped up its efforts. We need to send

100,000 letters to the FCC so they can't ignore us:

 

Tell the FCC to Stop Fake News Today:

http://action.freepress.net/campaign/fakenews2/8wwiu5urqjbx8bi?

 

Free Press and CMD have delivered extensive evidence of this local TV abuse

to the FCC. But these two investigations -- documenting less than 1 percent of

fake news being offered to newsrooms -- exposed only the tip of the iceberg.

It's likely that fake news reports have been aired on hundreds more local

newscasts.

 

We need your help to send a strong message to the FCC: Crack down on local

news stations that abuse the public trust by airing fake news.

 

Onward,

 

Timothy Karr

Campaign Director

Free Press

www.freepress.net

 

1. The latest report -- " Still Not the News " -- is available at

www.prwatch.org/fakenews2/execsummary

 

2. Learn more about taking action against fake news stations near you at

www.freepress.net/fakenews

 

3. The evidence suggests a strong tie between media consolidation and the

tendency to abuse the airwaves with deceptive, pre-packaged propaganda. More

than

80 percent of the stations snared in the inquiry are owned by large

conglomerates. A list of the worst offenders reads like a who's who of Big

Media,

including stations owned by Sinclair, Fox Television, Tribune Company and Clear

Channel. For more information on the effects of media consolidation visit

www.stopbigmedia.com

 

4. Don't forget to tell your friends about this:

http://action.freepress.net/freepress/join-forward.html?domain=freepress &

r=41slSIF1mjrO &

 

If you received this message from a friend, you can sign up for the

Free Press at:

http://action.freepress.net/freepress/join.html?r=41slSIF1mjrOE &