Tomservo

No wonder all the Republicans are running off, they musta gotten news of this little tidbit, taken from a Scottish site:

Bush Administration Accused of Manufacturing the News

By Mark Sage, PA News, in New York

The Bush Administration is being investigated for producing “ready made” television news packages in which actors were paid to pose as journalists, it emerged today.

“TV news releases” were sent to local stations to be run as part of main news programmes.

But Federal investigators have launched an investigation into whether the adverts were “propaganda”, amid allegations that they were an attempt to “manipulate the press”.

The “news” packages praised a new law, signed by the president in December, which the White House has said will make it easier for elderly American’s to obtain prescribed medicines.

In some of the features, there are pictures of Mr Bush receiving a standing ovation from a crowd as he signed the “Medicare” law.

The packages were produced by the Department of Health and Human Services, but news viewers would have no way of knowing they were watching a Government-produced story, rather than an independent news report.

They have been screened in several states, including Oklahoma and Louisiana.

Two of the videos end with the voice of a woman who says: “In Washington, I’m Karen Ryan reporting.”

The production company, Home Front Communications, said “Karen Ryan” was hired to read a script prepared by the Government.

Scripts were pre-written for news anchors.

In one script the news reader is prompted to say: “In December, President Bush signed into law the first-ever prescription drug benefit for people with Medicare.

“Since then, there have been a lot of questions about how the law will help older Americans and people with disabilities.

“Reporter Karen Ryan helps sort through the details.” “Karen Ryan” then explains the benefits of the new law.

In another video, a pharmacist is shown speaking to an elderly customer.

They agree on camera that the new law is a “good idea” after the pharmacist explains that it “helps you better afford your medications”.

The made-for-TV-news packages are now being investigated by the General Accounting Office – an arm of Congress.

Under law federal money cannot be used for “publicity or propaganda purposes”, unless authorised by Congress.

A spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services, said the use of video news releases was “common”.

“Anyone who has questions about this practice needs to do some research on modern public information tools,” he told the New York Times.

But Democratic Senator Frank Lautenberg called the video packages “disturbing”.

“The distribution of these videos is a covert attempt to manipulate the press,” he said.

And Bill Kovach, chairman of the Committee of Concerned Journalists, told the newspaper that the Government-made “news” items were “the next thing to fraud”.

“It’s running a paid advertisement in the heart of a news program,” he said.

Isn't this similar to Sony's made-up movie reviewer a few years ago? Is the Bush administration really SO scared of the real press, that this is what they'll resort to? Sheesh. We must be getting dumber if we allow BS like this to fly...

smooth

Where did you find this information?

__________________
"The theory of a free press is that truth will emerge from free discussion, not that it will be presented perfectly and instantly in any one account." -- Walter Lippmann

"You measure democracy by the freedom it gives its dissidents, not the freedom it gives its assimilated conformists." -- Abbie Hoffman

fuzyfuzer

this sounds a little shody and somthing this big would be all over the news

__________________
"The difference between commiment and involvment is like a ham and egg breakfast the chicken was involved but the pig was commited"

"Thrice happy is the nation that has a glorious history. Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat." Theodore Roosevelt

MSD

HarmlessRabbit

Nope, it's true. It was on NPR yesterday. To be fair, NPR said this is actually standard practice and was done by the Clinton administration as well.

Frankly, big business gives news outlets pre-packaged, easy to digest "news" as well. When your evening news features a cool new product, where do you think the footage came from? In many cases, the entire story was pre-packaged. In the same way, many news "interviews" are actually canned interview footage where the reporter is spliced in, they aren't actually talking to the celebrity, they are talking to a blank wall. Jon Stewart makes fun often on his show.

This really isn't a shocking story about the Bush Administration. It's a shocking story about how "news" organizations work.

galadrium

This is kinda like the Bush ads that were running that depicted firefighters. Apparently they were actors, because supposedly they couldn't find any real ones.

In all fairness both Democrats and Republicans probably do the same thing, with regard to manufacturing media events. Unfortunatly, in todays media culture of 10 second sound bites, there is very little place for a good honest debate.

__________________
Leading the Way

fuzyfuzer

Harmlessrabbit thank you for clarofying this for me

__________________
"The difference between commiment and involvment is like a ham and egg breakfast the chicken was involved but the pig was commited"

"Thrice happy is the nation that has a glorious history. Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat." Theodore Roosevelt

iccky

Local news is such a joke anyways. Tonight my local (philly channel 10) news station spent about twenty minutes talking about the snow storm. Guess what, we have windows. We know it snowed two inches. Cover some real news.

onetime2

Yawn. Not an issue as pointed out by Harmless Rabbit. It's been going on a long time since news outlets can use these things as fillers and they don't need to do much work to them to make them airable. The alternative would be press releases and such which the news programs would then have to get a reporter to talk about, script the message, shoot the footage, etc.

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Strive to be more curious than ignorant.

funbob

Wow, what a surprise, politicians manufacturong news. Who woulda thunk it??

funbob

oops, The word is "Manufaxturing" Sorry I have not had my cup of coffee yet.....

funbob

Okay, I have to go now, I can't seem to spell anything today. Which sucks since I write for a living.

Manufacturing
Manufacturing
Manufacturing
Manufacturing
Manufacturing
Manufacturing
Manufacturing
Manufacturing
Manufacturing
Manufacturing

Tomservo

So let me get this straight- it's okay with you guys that the government is using false news reports, scripted, using actors, to convince you their programs are sound?

How is this different from Sony's nonexistant critic giving rave reviews to their films? There was talk when that story broke of the FCC coming down hard on Sony, and it was huge news. Why is it we can be propaganized by our government about a multibillion dollar spending program, but not by Sony for "Hollow Man"?!? Just because it's happened before doesn't mean it's "alright".

reconmike

Wow why is everyone digging so deep to try and pin something, anything on Bush?
If the Dems had signed a huge Medicare bill it would have been touted as the greatest thing for the elderly since the clapper.

Let's see how petty things are going to get as the summer rolls around.

News Flash....(New York Times) Bush shakes his wanker way too many times after urinating, is this the guy you want running the country?

__________________
Where is Darwin when ya need him?

HarmlessRabbit

Well, you tell me how much money was spent investigating Clinton for WhiteWater and what the investigation turned up? If anything, Clinton was dissected and roasted far more than Bush. I'll be happy to see the heat turned up on Bush a bit. In my opinion, he's had a bit of a free ride since 9/11.

The media digs up dirt. On both sides. That's what they get paid for!