Abstract
Forty-seven television news stories generated by a video news release (VNR) were content analyzed to determine how television gatekeepers use various elements included in VNRs. A survey was also done to obtain station resource data that might predict greater use of packaged elements from a VNR. Results suggest that the production costs for a packaged story in a VNR may be wasted. Extensive use was made of B-roll, public service announcements (PSAs), and footage from planned events like news conferences that reporters are accustomed to covering. When the packaged story was used, it was heavily edited or truncated. Contrary to common wisdom, resource-poor stations did not make greater use of the packaged story in the VNR.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.