Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
In response to Sunday's New York Times expose, White House press secretary Scott McClellan called government-produced video news releases "an informational tool." Their source, he said, is "very clear to the TV stations." The head of Medialink, on
The Center for Media and Democracy is working with Free Press to gather a quarter million signatures on our petition mobilizing the American public to fight fake news and government propaganda. On Sunday, the New York Times reported that at least 20 federal agencies have made and distributed pre-packaged, ready-to-serve television news segments to promote President Bush's policies and initiatives. Congress' Government Accountability Office determined that these "video news releases" were illegal "covert propaganda" and told federal agencies to stop. But last Friday, the White House ordered all agencies to disregard Congress' directive. The Bush administration is using hundreds of millions of your tax dollars to manipulate public opinion. Here's how to stop them.
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
New York Times reporters David Barstow and Robin Stein have written a lengthy report on the use of video news releases as covert propaganda. "Under the Bush administration," they write, "the federal government has aggressively used a well-established tool of public relations: the prepackaged, ready-to-serve news report that major corporations have long distributed to TV stations to pitch everything from headache remedies to auto insurance. In all, at least 20 federal agencies ...
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
The Lebanese American Council for Democracy, the "group that played a key role in the passage of the Syrian Accountability Act," retained 5W Public Relations for "strategic counsel and media relations." The group's goal is "to gain support from U.S.
In some ways, Armstrong Williams got a bad rap.
The conservative Black commentator, who was paid $240,000 by the U.S. Department of Education to advertise and advocate for the controversial "No Child Left Behind" law, lost his syndicated newspaper column and was pilloried for not disclosing the payment.
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
Reportedly hoping to land "a nice local technology story," a partner in the Washington DC area firm Rock Creek Creative "issued a news release touting the company's role in (Ukraine's) Orange Revolution." Instead, Russian media "seized on Rock Creek's release as proof that the United States had meddled in the Ukrainian presidential election." The firm later backpedaled, saying it had been hired by the nonprofit Global Fairness In
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
The Columbia Graduate School of Journalism will give its first ever Dean's Medal for Public Service to Daniel Edelman, the founder and chair of "the largest independent public relations firm in the world." The award "honors extraordinary lifetime achievement" by alumni, "for their contributions to society through professional accomplishments and civic involvement." While Daniel Edelman has contributed to many community groups,
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
The Bush administration ventriloquists are out in full force these days, breathlessly hyping "Personal Retirement Accounts" as a way to save Social Security by destroying it. For the average voter, getting a handle on what the Bush administration is proposing to do to Social Security is quite a challenge. The dozens of bobbing heads and clicking fingers, holding forth on cable news programming and the Internet is enough to make anyone's head spin.
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
Along with doubling spending on external PR contracts, the Bush administration has increased PR positions inside government agencies, called public affairs. Public affairs staffs grew by 9 percent since 2000, "even faster than the federal work force," for a cost increase of more than $50 million.
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