Firm Files Believable, Newsy Copy, for a Price

[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Annys Shin]
Meet NewsUSA Inc, a 70-person company that churns out audio clips, newspaper copy and radio scripts, all based on information provided by paying clients -- corporations, associations and others. Reformulated into journalistic style, with a pitch for the client included as unobtrusively as possible, the articles are distributed free to newspapers and radio stations around the country. Invoking the credible tone of traditional news media for commercial purposes, the articles find their way into the advertising supplements of major dailies. They fill out the news pages of staff-strapped small-town or community newspapers. They get airplay in the guise of consumer tips -- often rounded out with a mention of a Web site or a company that can solve problems like hair loss or how to set up a bridal registry. Though news placement services have been around for more than 50 years, they have recently come under fire after articles and columns commissioned by the Bush administration appeared in U.S. and Iraqi newspapers without disclosing who paid for them. But such criticism is not likely to end a practice that for first-time authors, small trade associations, and even well-known corporations such as Home Depot Inc. and Volkswagen AG offers a handsome payoff: the ability to place a message before a mass audience for much less than the cost of buying traditional ads.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/11/AR200512...
(requires registration)