The New York Times > Washington > Under Bush, a New Age of Prepackaged TV News

Regulate the labeling of music, political ads, food, etc... but lay the blame at news directors feet for the lack of labeling "News".

Isn't this a violation of Federal Law? You're not supposed to propagandize your own population. Smith-Mundt?

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Govt-made TV news bulletins are blurring the lines between PR and journalism in US

NEW YORK - IT IS the kind of TV news coverage every president covets.

'Thank you, Bush. Thank you, USA,' a jubilant Iraqi-American told a camera crew in Kansas City in a segment about reactions to the fall of Baghdad.

A second report told of 'another success' in the Bush administration's 'drive to strengthen aviation security'; the reporter called it 'one of the most remarkable campaigns in aviation history'.

A third segment, broadcast in January, described the administration's determination to open markets for American farmers.

To a viewer, each report looked like any other 90-second segment on the local news. But in fact, the federal government produced all three.

The report from Kansas City was made by the State Department. The 'reporter' covering airport safety was actually a public relations professional working under a false name for the Transportation Security Administration. The farming segment was done by the Agriculture Department's office of communications.

Under the Bush administration, the federal government has aggressively used a well-established tool of public relations: pre-packaged, ready-to-serve news reports that major corporations regularly distribute to TV stations to pitch everything from headache remedies to vehicle insurance.

In all, at least 20 different federal agencies have made and distributed hundreds of TV news segments in the past four years, records and interviews show.

Many were subsequently broadcast on local stations across the country without any acknowledgment of the government's role in their production.

The administration's efforts to generate positive news coverage have been much more pervasive than previously known.

At the same time, records and interviews suggest widespread complicity or negligence by television stations, given industry ethics standards that discourage the broadcast of pre-packaged news segments from any outside group without revealing the source.

Federal agencies are forthright with broadcasters about the origin of the news segments they distribute. But the reports themselves are designed to fit seamlessly into the typical local news broadcast. In most cases, the 'reporters' are careful not to state in the segment that they work for the government.

Their reports generally avoid overt ideological appeals. Instead, the government's news-making apparatus has produced a quiet drumbeat of broadcasts describing a vigilant and compassionate administration.

An examination of government-produced news reports offers a look inside a world where the traditional lines between public relations and journalism have become tangled, where local anchors introduce pre-packaged segments with 'suggested' lead-ins written by public relations experts.

The practice, which also occurred in the Clinton administration, is continuing despite President George W. Bush's recent call for a clearer demarcation between journalism and government publicity efforts.

'There needs to be a nice independent relationship between the White House and the press,' Mr Bush told reporters in January, explaining why his administration would no longer pay pundits to support his policies.

In interviews, though, press officers for federal agencies said the President's prohibition did not apply to government-made TV news segments, also known as video news releases.

They described the segments as factual, politically neutral and useful to viewers.

They noted that the Clinton administration also distributed video news releases.

These officials also argued that it is the responsibility of television news directors to inform viewers that a segment about the government was in fact written by the government. -- NEW YORK TIMES