Here's an interesting tidbit. A blog called Man in the Middle has published a note labeled No News Is Good News that makes mention of the use of video news releases (VNRs) by Quest Diagnostics. Below is an excerpt from the blog note:
When you turn on your TV, you expect to see two things: the show that you’ve tuned into and the commercials that pay for that show to be on the air. In recent years it has become more complicated to distinguish the two....[An] insidious way that advertisers use this marketing technique is through the use of Video News Releases, or VNR’s, that run during various newscasts. This is basically a pre-packaged broadcast segment designed to look like a television news story, which is funded by and scripted for corporate or government clients....There are FCC regulations in place that regulate this type of business transaction, and broadcasters are supposed to disclose that these are indeed paid for and not actual reported news stories....In 2006, the watchdog group Free Press and Center for Media & Democracy, released findings that at least 46 television stations had shown VNR’s with no public disclosure whatsoever. Some of these include: K-ABC in Los Angeles aired a segment on a new blood test that could help diagnose allergies in children, but did not disclose it was paid for by Quest Diagnostics....[See: Is Your Child Constantly Sick at the web site of the Center for Media and Democracy].
SourceWatch has an article about Quest Diagnostics including mention of the company's use of a VNR relating to a test for leukemia/lymphoma. Below is an excerpt from the article;
Among the tests Quest Diagnostics offers for primary care physicians is ImmunoCAP, a blood test for allergies. The test was developed by Pharmacia Diagnostics....DWJ "produced a video news release for Quest Diagnostics to get the facts out about a new testing procedure for leukemia and lymphoma patients," reported Jack O'Dwyer's Newsletter (March 16, 2005).
So what's the relevance of all of this for lab professionals? First of all, stories like this tarnish the reputations of all lab professionals. Secondly and more importantly, healthcare consumers hunger for information about emerging medical diagnostic procedures. Refer to Google as an Operating System for Healthcare Services for more information about consumer interest in healthcare issues on the web. There is absolutely no need for a company like Quest to resort to unethical means to disseminate information about lab testing. I am sure that there will be no shortage of physicians who would be willing to be interviewed on local TV about the value of various lab tests.
Video news releases, like their print counterparts, are a communications tool. They do not constitute unethical methods of communicating. It is up to the broadcaster to attribute the video to the organization that produced it. News releases in print and video form are effective and accepted legitimate means for organizations to communicate news to the news media, who then may choose to confirm the information independently before reporting it, or choose to run the information as provided. Many good stories probably would not air if organizations did not make it easier on the news outlets by providing prepackaged video. I think the news story about a new blood test that could help diagnose allergies in children enhances, not tarnishes, the image of laboratory professionals.
Posted by: Ellen Sullivan | November 30, 2006 at 10:14 AM