Somebody give Ketchum the memo

The Media Drop points to Ben Feller’s story about the Department of Education’s use of a video news release to hype their No Child Left Behind law. Ketchum, a public affairs PR firm, was paid $700,000 to create the video and monitor coverage.

Unbelievably, Ketchum decided to use the same notorius Karen Ryan who was caught in a similar fake news story. What was Ketchum thinking? The use of Karen Ryan guaranteed they would be caught manufacturing news. Part of our job is to explain to clients what is and is not credible. Fake news releases, with or without Karen Ryan, are not credible.

Dan Gillmor makes a telling point, "But the people who deserve even more condemnation are any TV stations that run these press releases in news programs without making clear what they're doing."

Statement of the Public Relations Society of America on Video News Releases