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Thursday, Nov 26, 2009
Must the U.S. government reveal when it has produced "news" broadcasts? In a stunning rebuke of the GAO, the Justice Department says no.
Mar 16, 2005 | Democrats aren't the only ones angered by the Justice Department's memo to federal agencies on March 11 telling them to ignore a key finding by the Government Accountability Office. The GAO has declared that video news releases -- or prepackaged TV segments -- that fail to reveal they were produced by the government constitute illegal propaganda. "It's highly unusual for the Justice Department to take this action. Sending out a memo may be unprecedented," says David Walker, comptroller general of the United States and head of the GAO. He adds, "The Justice Department is not independent on this matter."
Department spokesman Kevin Madden could not say how common the issuance of a memo was, but noted that because GAO findings are nonbinding, the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel has final say over executive branch legal matters.
"We strongly disagree [with] and are very disappointed by the administration's actions," Walker says. "This is not just about what's arguably legal; it's about what's right. Taxpayers have the right to know if and when the government is trying to influence them with their own dollars."
Others were also caught off guard by the administration's move to block the ruling. "I was surprised the Justice Department double-backed on the GAO," says Laurence Moskowitz, chairman and CEO of Medialink, a multimedia communications firm that annually distributes nearly 1,000 video releases produced by commercial, nonprofit and government clients.
Last year, following the GAO's ruling that news segments produced or distributed on behalf of the government should spell out their origin to viewers, Moskowitz wrote in PRWeek, "The GAO actually bestowed a great service to the PR industry by codifying simple guidelines for government disclosure and reinforcing the need for simple honesty."
And despite the Justice Department memo, Moskowitz says, "we advise government clients to function under the current GAO rules, which include script identification. It's prudent."
The controversy arose after the airing of a pro-Medicare-reform video news release created by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, an agency that is part of the Department of Health and Human Service. Seamlessly produced to look like a news report for local television stations, the agency's video release was perhaps too realistic. When it aired in its entirety in nearly 40 local television markets between Jan. 22 and Feb. 12, 2004, viewers were never told the 90-second package had been created by the government. Adding to the confusion was the use of a hired narrator, who ended the spot with the sign-off: "In Washington, I'm Karen Ryan reporting."
Critics labeled the segment propaganda, saying its release went far beyond the usual goal of distributing information electronically, crossing the line into government-manufactured news. Revelations earlier this year that the administration had given lucrative contracts to at least three conservative columnists (who in turn championed White House policies) had already generated criticism that the administration was circumventing genuine media outlets to get its message out.
"Deceiving the American people about government policies and proposals is not the American way," Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., and Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., wrote to President Bush after those revelations. "Propaganda should not be coming out of the White House."
Democrats subsequently asked the GAO to investigate. Last May the agency, which serves as the investigatory arm of Congress, concluded that video news releases that don't include as part of their on-air script a clear disclosure that they were produced by the government (for example, "John Jones, reporting for the Department of Education") constitute propaganda and thus an illegal use of taxpayer dollars under the Consolidated Appropriations Resolution of 2003.
