Video News Releases

Video News Releases (VNRs) are public relations tools frequently used by corporations, nonprofit [Page 1426]organizations, and government entities. Any VNR is the television equivalent of a press packet. It includes an entire TV news story being promoted by the organization. A typical VNR contains many parts:

• A package complete with narration from a “reporter” who actually works for the PR firm creating the VNR.
• A “donut” version of the same package so a reporter or anchor from the television station simply can add his or her voice in the appropriate spots, giving the false appearance the reporter or anchor played a more active role in the creation of the story.
• Extra interview segments, sound “bites” typically 5 to 15 seconds, from on-camera experts quoted in the story.
• Extra video of the subjects mentioned in the story. For example, let's say the VNR was from the National Cattleman's Association and concerned an increase in the use of beef in restaurant meals. The extra video (the trade slang is B-roll), may include shots of cattle, cattlemen, wrapped beef in a supermarket, and a waitress delivering some beef-related meal to a customer. These typically will include natural sound of the action being shown.
• A suggested script for the story (often presented as a full screen or more of text against a bland background) so the producer or reporter more easily can craft the material into an item for one of that day's newscasts.

VNRs began in the 1970s as rather obvious promotional items, often sent to television news operations through the mail in the form of videotapes with an attached hard copy of additional information and the suggested script. VNRs today, however, are more subtle, pervasive, and technologically sophisticated. Several large firms specialize in their creation and distribution, mostly through satellite feeds but also as high-quality streaming video to be downloaded. The VNRs even will include an encoded “tag,” known as the Sigma system, so their actual use by station, market, length, and time of day can be tracked.

Sometimes it takes a careful and trained eye to spot a VNR in use, but certain examples may help. If a viewer is watching a health news story involving new cancer research, the piece might include interviews at a lab thousands of miles away. The name of a drug company sponsoring the research is shown on close-up shots of bottles and stationery. It is possible these bits of video were assembled and distributed by the station's affiliated network news operation, but it is far more likely they came from a VNR created at the behest of the medical journal or the drug company. Or, to take another example, a viewer notices a brief news story about a growing trend in consumers buying used cars from car rental companies. The copy is not blatantly promotional, but all the sound bites and video show representatives or logos of only one car rental firm. This story may very well be a VNR from that company.

Television newscasts often conclude with a kicker, a short amusing story meant to leave viewers feeling upbeat. The kicker could be the new Miss World as she rides a new roller coaster, or cute kids test marketing green and purple ketchup all over hamburgers and hot dogs. Both of these likely are VNRs, the former perhaps from the amusement park promoting the new ride, the latter from the foods corporation launching the new ketchup.

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