Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
Revelations about U.S. government attempts to shape the news by paying pundits and producing video news releases have fueled a debate "about whether news reports and opinion pieces provided to media outlets" that "were developed and paid for by government agencies" should be disclosed as such, reports Newsday.
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
"In a newspaper opinion piece signed by President Bush and offered to newspapers around the globe" by the State Department, "a White House eager to lessen anti-American sentiment in the Muslim world is trumpeting U.S. efforts to help tsunami victims," reports Associated Press.
Conservative pundit Armstrong Williams has been under fire recently following revelations that he was paid $240,000 to promote the Bush administration's "No Child Left Behind" law. However, it isn't the first time that his media interests have been used as a mouthpiece for hidden interests.
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
Nicolle Devenish, the new White House communications director, was "once fired for being too nice to reporters," writes the New York Times' Elisabeth Bumiller.
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
Christian Science Monitor reporter Tom Regan writes, "The Internet is increasingly being used by special interest groups to try and influence media to change the way they cover a subject, or in some cases not to cover it at all." Regan focuses on the Monitor's on-line polls, which, although not scientific, "encourage deeper involvement in a story and issue." A poll accompanying a story on the U.S.
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
For the second time, the Government Accountability Office "scolded the Bush administration for distributing phony prepackaged news reports," or video news releases.
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
The Bush administration paid $240,000 to prominent African-American pundit Armstrong Williams, to "build support among black families for its education reform law," No Child Left Behind, reports USA Today, citing documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request.
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
"In April 2004," writes Mariah Blake, "a former U.S. Special Forces soldier named Jonathan Keith Idema started shopping a sizzling story to the media. He claimed terrorists in Afghanistan planned to use bomb-laden taxicabs to kill key U.S. and Afghan officials, and that he himself intended to thwart the attack. ...
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
PR Watch has reported in the past on the story of Jane Akre and Steve Wilson, two former investigative reporters at Fox TV's affiliate station in Tampa Bay, Florida who say the network ordered them to broadcast false and distorted news reports regarding the Monsanto company's genetically-engineered bovine growth hormone.
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
The American Society of Newspaper Editors and other media organizations are organizing "Sunshine Week" in mid-March, to encourage print, broadcast and online media outlets "to address the issue of a more open government through news coverage, editorials, commentaries, and editorial cartoons." The organizations are "alarmed by a trend toward secrecy at all levels of government." A similar effort, OpenTheGovernment.org, has been launched by dozens of organizations "to advance the
Center for Media and Democracy (CMD)
520 University Ave, Ste 305 • Madison, WI 53703 • (608) 260-9713
CMD is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt non-profit.
© 1993-2024