NEW YORK: PRSA and the National Association of Broadcast Communicators (NABC), the newly formed VNR industry organization, are planning to issue a joint statement of support for the Radio-Television News Directors Association (RTNDA)'s stance on the latest FCC/VNR controversy, PRWeek has learned.
This will be the first public statement by the NABC, formed this summer by a consortium of at least 15 VNR producers, including Medialink, MultiVu, KEF Media Associates, and DS Simon Productions. The organization has already established a membership structure and a set of bylaws.
NABC was formed in response to the wave of scrutiny VNRs have faced in recent years, the most recent following a report by the Center for Media and Democracy, a PR watchdog group, in April which showed that 77 TV stations had failed to properly identify VNRs as outside footage.
In response to the CMD report, the FCC sent a letter of inquiry to those stations asking for more information about their use of VNRs.
Last week, RTNDA asked the FCC to halt its inquiry, citing the CMD's study as "biased and inaccurate."
"The [FCC's Enforcement Bureau] is following the lead of an organization that is unrelenting in its hostility to the principles of free speech and a free press that have sustained our democratic institutions for more than 200 years," RTNDA's letter to the FCC read.
Yesterday, CMD issued a rebuttal of RTNDA's claim that the study was inaccurate.
Kevin Foley, president of KEF Media Associates and member of NABC's executive committee, declined to comment for this article.
