But some also expressed strong displeasure with CNN, which distributes pre-packaged stories to local stations around the country through its CNN Newsource service, acting as a sort of wire service for TV. Veazey said that when his station receives VNR footage from CNN, it’s clearly labeled in the slug at the top as VNR. But other news directors told us that’s not the case in their systems: You have to search through the footage to find the VNR I.D. Henderson, of WTVC-Chattanooga, told us his station “ran what appeared to be a reporter’s package, which aggravates the mistake.” And Lynn Brooks of WVUA-Tuscaloosa, confirmed in an email to a viewer, obtained by Campaign Desk, that when her station received the Medicare story, it “was designated as a ‘reporter package’, with nothing distinguishing it as a video news release.” CNN, she said, “dropped the ball.” Akins of KSEE-Fresno agreed: “I think CNN does a disservice to its affiliates” by including VNR packages in its stream of news footage. “They should create a separate VNR feed,” she said.
According to the news directors, CNN makes money on both ends of the process. Understandably, it charges the news stations a fee to subscribe to its satellite news feed service, just as the Associated Press charges the newspapers it serves. But Larry Moskowitz of Medialink (which Moskowitz told Campaign Desk is the world’s largest producer and distributor of VNRs) confirmed that CNN Newsource and other similar services also charge the VNR distributor, by leasing transmission time on the satellite news feed that then goes out to local stations.
Hmm, I worked with CNN Newsource quite a bit during my time at CNN.com: it’s unfortunate to read this. I hope it was just a mistake: I’m sure the feed data has changed since last I saw any of that stuff, assuming I could remember it. I think there’s a true video browsing system in place now, so my memories are obsolete, I’m sure.
Background: the project I worked on was a precursor of this, I think: an online feed parser/browser system that took feed data from the newsroom system, parsed it, and inserted it into mSQL. The resulting application allowed subscribing stations to see lists of what packages were available, with the dateline, reporter’s details, and some descriptive information (often the lead-in text).