Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
"It is designed to circumvent the campaign-finance restrictions, which would bar us from communicating to our members before elections," explained a National Rifle Association spokesperson about the pro-gun lobby group's recently launched news service. NRA's executive vice president asked, "Who's to say [Disney, GE or Time Warner AOL are] any more legitimate?" PR guru Paul Holmes applauds NRAnews.com as "a clever response to a wrong-headed piece of legislation," and opines: "Fox News already has shown that there's no requirement for even the pretense of objectivity." Duke University journalism professor Susan Tifft disagrees: "For lobbies and private interests to wrap themselves in the cloak of dispassionate news gathering when what is actually being practiced is PR and political advocacy is the ultimate cynical act."
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