Wonders never cease

Every day, the McCain campaign comes out with a new "ad" that is in fact just a video they created to go with a press release to TV news departments. The press release says that they'll be appearing in "battleground states." But the only airing these videos get is on the TV news.

Steven Benen wonders why TV stations keep taking the bait.

But why would major news outlets repeatedly fall for the same trick, even when they realize the ads are created for the sole purpose of free media attention? There are competing explanations, but my hunch is a lot of outlets are just lazy, and video press releases make their jobs easier.

Um, yeah. It's no different then what corporations (and the White House) do in releasing video press releases. TV news stations are supposed to say where the videos come from, but seldom do, preferring to fill out their 30 minutes with moving pictures instead of just a reporter's face.

Sigh.