Is this the new version of the press release? You may not even be aware of the print version, in fact: many “news” stories are simply word-for-word reprints of text press releases, essentially ads put out by organizations in the form of a news story. Usually they announce some new product, an event, or an organization’s position on a news-related story–something that resembles news more than it does an ordinary ad. But it’s still an ad. A lot of people read them and don’t know that they come directly from an interested party, some business or other organization that has a stake in influencing people’s views.

And that’s the problem: people usually accept news reports as being unbiased, as coming from an uninterested source, giving an objective view. Press releases are the exact opposite of that. That some news organizations reprint this word for word, especially when they do it without any disclosure about the source of the “story,” is contrary to the idea of objective journalistic practice.

A new version of this seems to be the “video press release”–a short insert for TV programs or even web sites, disguised as a news report. Done in the same format (or close to it), it can be dropped into any TV show or web site and appear to be a regular news story. It may have preceded the Bush administration, but Bush certainly made extended use of it–especially the type that tries to hide its biased source and fool people into thinking that it’s a real reporter. This is even worse than the text press release, because people are less familiar with the fact that these even exist, and they are less likely to have some disclosure about where they came from.

Well, not surprisingly, now the RIAA has jumped onto the wagon, and has their own fake news “video press release” out--which, of course, does not identify itself as coming from the RIAA. It has all the usual RIAA claims, like the canard that piracy costs the industry billions, but it goes further, trashing pirated copies as having “atrocious” quality, and then quietly segues into full-commercial mode, suggesting “cool, innovative ways to get your favorite music,” such as buying Christmas-themed ringtones.

Ah, yes–nothing says “I got the perfect gift for you” like paying two and a half bucks for a shortened version of a song you already paid a dollar for, especially when it’s a song that is only usable on a cell phone for one month out of the year–and most people would find “atrocious” even in that case.