VNRs, 2.0

A few years back, the Government Accounting Office decided -- according to the New York Times -- that the “Bush administration violated federal law by producing and disseminating television news segments” – deeming them “propaganda.”

These news segments were pre-taped Video News Releases (VNRs) that aped the look and feel of a news story – complete with the quote-unquote correspondent closing out by saying “I’m Karen Ryan, reporting” – discussing the positive effects of Medicare policy.

The tapes were then sent to local news stations nationwide where they all-too-frequently ran without the disclosure that they were government produced. The practice was thoroughly dissected by the famously prolix Jay Rosen. (Where he cites the Cleveland Plain Dealer, in all its brilliant ‘plain’-ness editorializing “Karen Ryan, you’re a phony.”)

Lesson learned? You’d think.

But along comes today’s story from the Washington Post, where something not entirely unlike VNRs gets reported by Al Kamen.

Apparently, a rushed press conference was announced by FEMA in the wake of the Southern California fires, with FEMA Deputy Administrator Vice Admiral Harvey Johnson taking questions from the media. (Pardon the long excerpt)

Johnson stood behind a lectern and began with an overview before saying he would take a few questions. The first questions were about the "commodities" being shipped to Southern California and how officials are dealing with people who refuse to evacuate. He responded eloquently.
He was apparently quite familiar with the reporters -- in one case, he appears to say "Mike" and points to a reporter -- and was asked an oddly in-house question about "what it means to have an emergency declaration as opposed to a major disaster declaration" signed by the president. He once again explained smoothly.

FEMA press secretary Aaron Walker interrupted at one point to caution he'd allow just "two more questions." Later, he called for a "last question."

"Are you happy with FEMA's response so far?" a reporter asked. Another asked about "lessons learned from Katrina."

"I'm very happy with FEMA's response so far," Johnson said, hailing "a very smoothly, very efficiently performing team."

"And so I think what you're really seeing here is the benefit of experience, the benefit of good leadership and the benefit of good partnership," Johnson said, "none of which were present in Katrina." (Wasn't Michael Chertoff DHS chief then?) Very smooth, very professional. But something didn't seem right. The reporters were lobbing too many softballs. No one asked about trailers with formaldehyde for those made homeless by the fires. And the media seemed to be giving Johnson all day to wax on and on about FEMA's greatness.

Of course, that could be because the questions were asked by FEMA staffers playing reporters. We're told the questions were asked by Cindy Taylor, FEMA's deputy director of external affairs, and by "Mike" Widomski, the deputy director of public affairs. Director of External Affairs John "Pat" Philbin asked a question, and another came, we understand, from someone who sounds like press aide Ali Kirin.

While this faux press conference is not legally the same thing as a VNR, there definitely are some similarities that must be addressed. Like, for starters, non-journalists collecting a government paycheck are playing the role of reporters. With the media airing it, apparently unknowingly, as an actual press conference. And the government agency cherry-picking prepared questions.

How do I know they were chosen? In his defense to Kamen, deputy director of external affairs Mike Widomsky said so:

"We pulled questions from those we had been getting from reporters earlier in the day." Despite the very short notice, "we were expecting the press to come," he said, but they didn't. So the staff played reporters for what on TV looked just like the real thing.

"If the worst thing that happens to me in this disaster is that we had staff in the chairs to ask questions that reporters had been asking all day, Widomski said, "trust me, I'll be happy."

If you want to answer questions that reporters have been asking, there are more straightforward ways, like press releases or fact sheets. Or have a speech where you clearly say things like “we’ve gotten a lot of questions about X,” and then answer them. But political theater should not be an approach. How is this different from a late-night infomercial with an audience member asking "But I've tried all the other diet plans! Will yours work for me?"

So while this story is not one of video news releases, it is a story of similar political subterfuge. Note to FEMA: When we want fake news, we’ll tune into Jon Stewart.

Update (3:00pm): An hour after this post, I received an e-mail notifying me that Harvey Johnson had formally apologized for the press conference. The statement, in full, read:

STATEMENT IN REGARDS TO FEMA’S TUESDAY PRESS BRIEFING

FEMA’s goal is to get information out as soon as possible, and in trying to do so we made an error in judgment. Our intent was to provide useful information and be responsive to the many questions we have received. We are reviewing our press procedures and will make the changes necessary to ensure that all of our communications are straight forward and transparent.

At FEMA, our focus is disaster operations and, in this case, it means working closely with the State of California to support their response to the devastating fires. We’re committed to being there for the State and being good partners. In working to do so we did not put enough focus on how we communicate to the public.

The real story – how well the response and recovery elements are working in this disaster – should not be lost because of how we tried to meet the needs of the media in distributing facts.

We can and must do better, and apologize for this error in judgment.

- Vice Admiral Harvey Johnson, Deputy Administrator