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http://news.independent.co.uk/world/...p?story=619652

Here is the news... from President Bush
By Andrew Gumbel in Los Angeles

14 March 2005

THE BUSH administration has produced look-alike news propaganda clips
and then persuaded television stations across the country to air them
uncritically and, often, uncut. As many as 20 government departments
have produced fake news which stations broadcast as though they had
produced the segments themselves, according to The New York Times.

In California, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is at the centre of a
growing controversy over the same thing - using public funds to make
short pseudo-journalistic films touting controversial policies and
passing them on to local television news stations which have aired them
without comment.

Both the Bush and the Schwarzenegger administrations have gone so far
as
to script introductory lines for the news anchor to read out.

The phenomenon - known to its detractors as "covert propaganda" and to
its advocates as putting out video news-releases - is deeply troubling
in a country that prides itself on media independence.

The controversy consists of two distinct parts. The first is the
questionable legality of the officials' actions, which have come under
challenge from congressional and legislative oversight committees. And
the second is the questionable ethics of the television news directors
who permit the segments to air without balancing comment from critics.

Most of the stations that have used the segments - on subjects as
varied
as the Iraq war and Governor Schwarzenegger's controversial plans to
curtail union power - have been small ones relying on news feeds of all
kinds to fill their schedules.

Last month, the investigative arm of Congress, the Government
Accountability Office, issued a damning report on the Bush
administration's use of the practice, concluding that their clips were
intentionally deceptive. "Prepackaged news stories can be utilised
without violating the law," wrote US comptroller David Walker, "so long
as there is clear disclosure that this material was prepared by the
government department".

An initial finding by California's legislative analyst's office last
week found no legal basis for the Schwarzenegger administration's video
releases. Los Angeles lawmaker Gloria Romero told a state Senate
hearing: "This is propaganda, produced at taxpayer expense."

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