Pubdate: Wed, 16 Mar 2005
Source: Chicago Tribune (IL)
Copyright: 2005 Chicago Tribune Company
Contact:  http://www.chicagotribune.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/82
Author: Clarence Page
Cited: Office of National Drug Control Policy (www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov )
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/opinion.htm (Opinion)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/campaign.htm (ONDCP Media Campaign)

FAKE NEWS MAKES FOUL GOVERNMENT

WASHINGTON -- Jon Stewart's satirical "The Daily Show" on Comedy
Central likes to call itself "No. 1 in fake news." Team Bush seems
determined to challenge the show for the title--with our tax dollars.

In memos sent last week to federal agency heads, the Bush White House
rejected a Government Accountability Office ruling that it is illegal
for federal agencies to feed TV stations prepackaged "news stories"
that do not disclose the government's role in producing them.

Fake-news stories, called "video news releases" in the public
relations industry, are a huge business. The PR trade produces
thousands a year, mostly for corporate clients. Designed to resemble
independently reported news stories, these video news releases can be
broadcast without editing and, to their everlasting shame, some TV
stations have chosen to run them without identifying their government
source.

All White House administrations use public funds to push their
agendas, but they should make a decent effort to inform the public as
to where the hype is coming from. Then voters can decide whether they
think the money is well spent. But when TV stations put stories on the
air without announcing that the stories are government-produced, the
stations become megaphones for government propaganda.

Three times in recent months the Government Accountability Office
ruled that the made-for-TV stories from the Department of Health and
Human Services about the Medicare drug benefit and from the Office of
National Drug Control Policy for the administration's anti-drug
campaign violate federal laws against such covert propaganda. But the
Bush administration's latest memos, first reported Sunday by the New
York Times, absolve the fake stories where there is "no advocacy of a
particular viewpoint" in "the legitimate provision of information"
concerning government programs.

Let's get real. In today's politically charged climate, every
government announcement reflects a "particular viewpoint," whether it
concerns abstinence over condoms, oil drilling over preservation of
the Alaska wildlife refuge or whatever.

Fake news came out of HHS under the Clinton administration too. But
federal agencies under Clinton were tightwads compared to the Bush
administration in regard to the practice. A recent study by
congressional Democrats found that the Bush administration spent $254
million in its first term on public relations contracts, almost twice
as much as the last Clinton administration spent, according to the
Times.

If it was wrong for the Clintonites to send out fake news to local TV
stations, it is twice as wrong for Team Bush to spend twice as much as
the Clintonites did on the same questionable activity. Leadership in
fake news is hardly an honorable title outside of Comedy Central or
The Onion, a premier phony-news newspaper.

Unless Congress passes tougher laws, the onus to let the public know
what they're watching ultimately lands firmly on the TV stations that
broadcast the video news releases.

Just as newspaper reporters should not simply retype public-relations
handouts, TV stations should clearly identify a government-produced
report for what it is, government propaganda, so we the public can
decide how much of it we want to believe.

In that spirit, it is piquantly appropriate that the new memos were
revealed during Sunshine Week, which began Sunday. Organized by the
American Society of Newspaper Editors, Sunshine Week features coverage
and commentary by media across the country on threats to the public's
right to know what our government is doing behind closed doors.

In the interest of fairness and balance, I feel obliged to note that
even a seemingly inarguable principle such as open government comes
under attack in these politically polarized times when it is trumpeted
by media organizations.

For example, Cliff Kincaid of Accuracy in Media writes on the
conservative watchdog group's Web site that it is hypocritical of
media to tout open government while using anonymous sources in many
news stories. "I agree that the government has to be held to a higher
standard," he writes. "But for the media to come out and say they're
going to do it when they've failed so miserably is laughable."

He has a point buried in his broad-brushed statement. Reporters never
should be allowed to use anonymous sources to cover sloppy reporting.
But government officials also should not use fake news, closed
meetings or the secrecy stamp to cover up their own sloppy or
destructive governance.