Nov. 14 (Bloomberg) -- At least 46 television stations aired corporate public-relations videos as if they were news, six months after the U.S. Federal Communications Commission opened an investigation into the practice, a study found.

Sponsors of the so-called video news releases, which resemble news reports, often aren't disclosed, and some stations attempt to disguise the segments as their own reporting, said the study released today by the Center for Media and Democracy, an advocacy group in Madison, Wisconsin.

The stations, whose owners include News Corp.'s Fox unit, Tribune Co. and Sinclair Broadcasting Group Inc., may face fines for violating an FCC warning to identify the sources of the segments. The fine for each violation in any such case can be as much as $32,500, rising to a maximum of $325,000 for continuing violations, FCC spokesman David Fiske said.

``Broadcasters have been told again and again about our rules,'' FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein, a Democrat, said today in a statement.

Both Adelstein and Michael Copps, the other Democrat on the five-member commission, today urged FCC Chairman Kevin Martin to add the study's new cases to those already under investigation after an earlier report by the media center.

Martin, a Republican, ordered the probe in May after a study by the advocacy group found at least 77 stations ignored an FCC warning to disclose sponsors. In today's study, the center reviewed video news releases that aired from April to October in dozens of cities, including New York, Los Angeles and Philadelphia.

Little Disclosure

The videos appeared as news segments without disclosing that they were paid for by the sponsoring corporations, or with only fleeting or ambiguous attribution, today's report said.

Eight stations identified as having aired undisclosed video news releases in the first report were named again in the second. Among them were Tribune Broadcasting's WPIX in New York, an affiliate of the CW network; Fox's WDAF in Kansas City, Missouri, and Sinclair's WSYX in Columbus, Ohio, an ABC affiliate, the report said.

Groups that represent TV news executives and public- relations video producers said FCC rules generally don't require corporate sponsors of the segments to be identified on the air.

The FCC probe is ``an unprecedented regulatory intrusion into newsroom operations,'' said the Radio-Television News Directors Association in Washington, which represents broadcast news executives. Its statement called for a halt to the inquiry.

Sponsorship

The new study ``has not contradicted our legal arguments,'' said Kevin Foley, president of the National Association of Broadcast Communicators in New York, which represents PR firms including Medialink Worldwide Inc., creator of some of the videos.

FCC rules require sponsorship disclosure only when the video involves political matters or ``controversial issues of public importance,'' or when a company pays the station, Foley said.

In one video news release noted in today's study, WPIX-11 in New York aired a segment on hybrid cars sponsored by General Motors Corp. on Aug. 4. A news anchor introduced the segment, saying, ``OK, you want a hybrid car, but the Toyota Prius just doesn't do it for you? Well, you're in luck.''

The video, made by Medialink, featured an interview with a GM engineer and images of a Saturn hybrid, according to the report. GM's disclosure of its sponsorship wasn't aired, the study said.

`Fake TV News'

``Viewers are still routinely deceived by fake TV news,'' said the report written by Diane Farsetta and Daniel Price.

Farsetta said the center is putting its findings into a formal complaint to the FCC.

FCC spokesman Fiske said, ``As with all complaints filed with the commission, we'll look into any alleged violations of our rules.''

WPIX station manager Bettyellen Berlamino and General Motors spokeswoman Ryndee Carney didn't respond to requests for comment. Medialink spokeswoman Mary Buhay declined comment. Fox spokeswoman Erica Keane declined to comment, saying the company hadn't seen the report. Sinclair Chief Operating Officer Steven Marks didn't respond to a request for comment.

``Our television group has a policy to disclose the source of third-party video,'' Tribune spokesman Gary Weitman said today in a statement. ``Our stations try diligently to adhere to this policy, but they air hundreds of stories each day, and from time to time slip-ups occur.''

In addition to GM, companies using video news releases were Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc. and General Mills Inc., according to the research group.

`Full Disclosure'

``We always provide full disclosure on VNRs,'' General Mills spokeswoman Heidi Geller said in an interview yesterday. ``We try to be as upfront as we possibly can be.''

In every case, the sponsors provided documentation of their source, but the TV stations stripped this disclosure before airing the segments as news, Price said in an interview.

Barr Pharmaceuticals spokeswoman Carol Cox didn't respond to requests for comment.

The center reviewed 109 video news releases, or 2 percent of the 5,000 offered to TV stations during the last six months, the report said. Of those that were examined, the stations used about 54 broadcasts with inadequate disclosure of the sponsor, with 48 offering no disclosure at all.

To contact the reporter on this story: Neil Roland in Washington at nroland@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: November 14, 2006 17:06 EST