Video news release

A video news release (VNR) is a television video program used to promote or publicize a product or viewpoint. They are often created in the same style as traditional television news reports, which has led to some notable confusion.

In 2004, a controversy with the Bush administration emerged when a VNR financed by the Department of Health and Human Services was aired on a number of local news programs around the country, thinking it was conventional journalism when in fact, it was produced to promote the new Medicare plan. The Karen Ryan video, named so because of the on-screen "reporter," was ruled to be in violation of federal law by the General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of the U.S. government.

See also: news release, journalism