Calling Out "Propaganda"

By: Brian Montopoli
Topics: Media Issues

In a little noticed development Thursday, the Senate Commerce Committee approved the "Prepackaged News Story Announcement Act," legislation requiring "that all prepackaged, government-produced news stories - which are designed to be indistinguishable from those created by independent news organizations - include disclaimers notifying the audience that the government produced or funded the news segment." The bill will now be considered by the full Senate.

If you have no idea why such legislation is necessary, think back to last year, when the name Karen Ryan briefly became infamous in journalism circles. Ryan, who works in public relations, appeared in video news releases (vnr) from the Department of Health and Human Services in which she talked up the benefits of the then-new Medicare bill. In a flourish which certainly appeared intended to make a public relations product look like a journalistic one, she signed off at the end of the pieces with, "In Washington, I'm Karen Ryan reporting."

A number of local news stations ran the vnrs as though they were actual, reported news stories. As the Hollywood Reporter pointed out, one such vnr "shows the president receiving a standing ovation while signing the Medicare bill into law. Another features a pharmacist telling an elderly customer that the new law 'helps you better afford your medications,' to the obvious delight of said senior."

When I was at Columbia Journalism Review, my colleague Zachary Roth did a number of items on the topic, including an interview with Ryan. The always reliable Jay Rosen also has an interesting take on Ryan and roundup of the coverage that's worth checking out.

The legal status of the vnrs has long been unclear. As Rosen points out, the New York Times reported the following on May 20th of last year:

The General Accounting Office, an investigative arm of Congress, said on Wednesday that the Bush administration had violated federal law by producing and disseminating television news segments that portray the new Medicare law as a boon to the elderly.

The agency said the videos were a form of "covert propaganda" because the government was not identified as the source of the materials, broadcast by at least 40 television stations in 33 markets. The agency also expressed some concern about the content of the videos, but based its ruling on the lack of disclosure.

The consequences of the ruling were not immediately clear. The accounting office does not have law enforcement powers, but its decisions on federal spending are usually considered authoritative and are taken seriously by officials in the executive branch of the government.

Should it pass, then, the Prepackaged News Story Announcement Act will presumably make it so that producing misleading vnrs will have consequences beyond a little bad press. That's extremely good news. With the media universe expanding rapidly and the definition of news itself is in flux, it's important that clear lines be drawn between a real news story and a government-produced piece of "propaganda." We'll be keeping an eye on developments in Congress.

Stay tuned.

Brian Montopoli
Brian Montopoli is the senior political reporter at CBSNews.com.
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by Paul_Degener October 25, 2005 12:03 PM EDT: Hey Brian, you\'re telling us that CBS, NPR and the venerable NYT DON\'T put out propaganda?! That the government is the only group that issues IN YOUR JUDGEMENT \"misleading vnrs\". Please get over yourself...journalism isn\'t just for those who call themselves \"journalists\" anymore pal! ...You gave up that right when dishonesty became your hallmark.; Reply to this comment


by October 24, 2005 1:05 PM EDT: NPR putting out government-funded propaganda is ok?; Reply to this comment


by ikez78 October 24, 2005 12:51 PM EDT: http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2005/10/23/205219.shtml Apparently Bush\'s approval ratings are only newsworthy when they are declining. He\'s back up to the 45% he\'s been at most of his second term by the way. They went up about 6% for those who follow polls.; Reply to this comment


by alphaa10-2009 October 23, 2005 7:10 PM EDT: \"Reporter Ryan\" was another cynical ploy by Shrub and co-conspirators, using weapons of mass deception against the American people. A Bush-sponsored lie suggested Ryan was an independent journalist, and it was also a Bush deceit to pay a columnist named Armstrong Williams $241,000 tax dollars to spout its propaganda. Williams\' every column was reviewed by the White House to make sure its preferred phrases were placed-- so much for this \"independent\" if pro-administration columnist. PS: RE: Disinformation, Antillo99 is actually behind global warming. His blast of ___ is better answered by this URL-- http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1690658; Reply to this comment


by adgrad October 23, 2005 4:31 PM EDT: This is just more government interaction. Given the number of mediums in the marketplace, is there a real possibility that there is not a liberal news group not ready to investigate, pounce and report such issues. Seems to me this is a law to make up what we see as irresponsible journalism. Shelley the Republican tackles many of these kind of issues. She is a former journalist and while she can be on the fringes when someone harms her fellow Americans, she gets it right. I wonder why groups like CBS can\'t?; Reply to this comment


by ronmwanga October 22, 2005 5:28 PM EDT: What is even more insidious about the process was that the target was the lederly -- a population that is already somewhat vulnerable to those sorts of parlor tricks. One wishes Daniel Patrick Moynihan were around to excoriate the protagonists in this bad operetta on the well of the Senate. I often wonder what DP Moynihan would make of things today.; Reply to this comment