Local TV news channels run Wheaties "Video News Release" as if it were news

The Center for Media and Democracy has for a long time been running down the story of how businesses get local TV stations to run their advertising segments for free, as if they were news stories, sometimes without attribution. For example, follow the link to view and compare the video segment recently produced by General Mills' PR firm for Wheaties and the corresponding segment that ran on channel CN8 in Philadelphia.