# Local News "tweaked" by Team Bush **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 18, 2004, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-news-tweaked-by-team-bush/235001 "2004-03-18T07:14:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Seven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Seven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seven)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2004, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-news-tweaked-by-team-bush/235001/1 "2004-03-18T07:14:58Z")
This is quite scary. > [@](#): > > In order to sell the complicated and skimpy plan to seniors, the Department of Health and Human Services is paying actors to pose as journalists in bogus TV "news’’ reports. Videos have been sent to TV stations, along with government-prepared scripts for news anchors to read. The idea is to make propaganda appear to be unbiased news during prime-time viewing. > > [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/03/16/EDGVQ5JUJU1.DTL](http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/03/16/EDGVQ5JUJU1.DTL) and > [@](#): > > The US government admitted it paid actors to pose as journalists in video news releases sent to TV stations intending to convey support for new laws about health benefits. > > [http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,14173,1170534,00.html](http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,14173,1170534,00.html) I first heard about this on The Daily Show (yes, it is sad when the joke news show is sometimes the only place to get news). They showed a clip of this “news” report. It sure looked like a real news report. They had a fake newscaster (Karen Ryan), a brief interview with Tommy Thompson, and it was edited and felt like a real news clip. It was sent to news stations to be played as a REAL news clip. What worries me is no other news stations I’ve seen are covering this story -and I would guess the stations who played this clip REALLY aren’t. What the fuck is going on with this country? Fake news being sent from the White House to the media outlet? I mean, it is one thing to stand in the White House pressroom and lie about why the country bombed Iraq, but it is totaly another for the government to prepare “news” clips for American consumtion to be played on American news stations. This is not fucking cold war Pravda! Why is there no outrage? WAKE THE FUCK UP! If there wasn’t a reason to dump this fucking administation before,… ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2004, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-news-tweaked-by-team-bush/235001/2 "2004-03-18T07:24:31Z")
> [@](#): > > Why is there no outrage? WAKE THE FUCK UP! Oh, there is. It’s just a little further down the page: [HHS’ sock puppet](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=245410) 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Seven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Seven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seven)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2004, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-news-tweaked-by-team-bush/235001/3 "2004-03-18T07:34:15Z")
Two other threads on this and I still didn’t see them?? I guess I saw HHS and thought it was about Hoover High School or something. heh heh ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2004, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-news-tweaked-by-team-bush/235001/4 "2004-03-18T13:01:05Z")
> [@](#): > > If there wasn’t a reason to dump this fucking administation before,… And just so you don’t miss it, this practice is **not** exclusive to this administration. ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2004, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-news-tweaked-by-team-bush/235001/5 "2004-03-18T15:43:13Z")
> [@Larry Mudd](#): > > Oh, there is. It’s just a little further down the page: > > [HHS’ sock puppet](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=245410) > > 😛 Shit, I thought that was probably about some stormfront asshole. ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2004, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-news-tweaked-by-team-bush/235001/6 "2004-03-18T15:53:17Z")
> [@UncleBeer](#): > > And just so you don’t miss it, this practice is **not** exclusive to this administration. For the purpose of educating those of us who were decently removed from the newsmedia for the vast bulk of the Clinton Administration (one hour of television a day, if that, for a good portion of it, dry to the point of cracking newspapers and I preferred the solace of Oldies to whatever political commentary I could find), and who were 11 when Bush Sr. left office, care to provide some examples? ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2004, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-news-tweaked-by-team-bush/235001/7 "2004-03-18T17:41:27Z")
I second the request for some examples of other administrations doing this. Not that I don’t believe you, **UncleBeer**. I’d just like to know. ---
**Author:** ![Mojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Mojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mojo)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2004, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-news-tweaked-by-team-bush/235001/8 "2004-03-18T22:06:25Z")
> [@Lord Ashtar](#): > > I second the request for some examples of other administrations doing this. Not that I don’t believe you, **UncleBeer**. I’d just like to know. [From ABC News](http://abcnews.go.com/sections/WNT/US/bush_medicare_reports_040315-1.html): > [@](#): > > Video news releases, as they are called, are not new. Private companies use them, and government agencies have previously relied on them for subjects ranging from the flu to drunk driving to Head Start. > > The Clinton administration sent out news stories on its Medicare proposal in the 1990s. > > The segments released during President Clinton’s administration, however, clearly stated at the beginning that they were produced by the government — something the Bush video news releases do not. So the difference is that the Clinton admin ads had a disclaimer but dealt with proposed legislation that had not passed- the Bush admin ads have no disclaimer but deal with a law that’s already been passed. So the brouhaha isn’t that the PSAs/ads are incorrect, just that they didn’t have a disclaimer and went with actors instead of real reporters\*. [sub](you know, like Jayson Blair).[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2004, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-news-tweaked-by-team-bush/235001/9 "2004-03-18T22:27:10Z")
A 1994 article from [this site](http://www.worldandI.com/specialreport/1994/september/Sa12562.htm) (subscription required to get the complete article, unfortunately): "Simply put, a VNR (video news release) is a film clip, maybe a minute or two in length, usually produced by a public relations firm and made available to television stations and networks by satellite feed. Dozens of PR firms now produce VNRs. Hundreds of commercial companies sponsor them, hoping for favorable coverage of a story relating to their particular business, and upward of 700 local stations now use them in their nightly news broadcasts. ``` Moreover, Congress and the White House have gotten into the act. Congress creates VNRs in its own fully equipped, tax-payer-funded television station in the belly of the Rayburn Building in Washington. Meanwhile, the Clinton administration hires out, paying companies like Medialink of New York--at taxpayer expense--to transmit VNRs by satellite to stations around the country." ``` Sen. Kennedy is reportedly irate over the fact that taxpayers fund these videos. It’s too bad we didn’t get the benefit of his outrage during the Clinton Administration. He does have a point though. I don’t know if any Clinton Admin. videos featured an actor introduced as “reporter Karen Ryan” (pay attention to your local newscast during features that are clearly not local, see how many end with something like “Fred Noodleson reporting”, and decide for yourself how many of these pieces are industry releases or stories produced by other news stations and played up as though they were produced by your local station). There is at least a subtle ramping up of sleaze to have an actor saying “reporter Karen Ryan” instead of “Karen Ryan reporting”. Though it’s hard to say more people would be fooled.