Reuters: * Defends Packaged News Stories from Government

[sabra]

<<SNIP>>
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=587091

Bush Defends Packaged News Stories from Government

Mar 16, 2005 — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush said on Wednesday that the U.S. government's practice of sending packaged news stories to local television stations was legal and he had no plans to cease it.

His defense of the packages, which are designed to look like television news segments, came after they were deemed a form of covert propaganda by the Government Accountability Office watchdog agency.

GAO, an arm of Congress, said this ran counter to appropriation laws and was a misuse of federal funds

.....

It was not the first time the Bush administration has been criticized for blurring the line between media and government. Earlier this year, the Education Department acknowledged that it paid conservative commentator Armstrong Williams $240,000 to promote the No Child Left Behind Act.

<</SNIP>>

[Marnieworld]

1. There are no more facts. Just opinion.

This is the entire GOP m.o. All the pundits and the alleged "balance" on news reflects this. Everything has become debatable by design. I say it's legal then it's legal. To hell with what the laws actually say! Make me stop-I dare you. Orwell anyone?

[AnnInLa]

2. I don't know which approach makes me crazier

The insidious, sneaking, lying approach...or the in-your-face, make me, I dare you approach. * has been taking lessons from Tommie Delay.

[DBoon]

3. They "make" reality

Relevant quote from orwell:

O'Brien silenced him by a movement of his hand. 'We control matter because we control the mind. Reality is inside the skull. You will learn by degrees, Winston. There is nothing that we could not do. Invisibility, levitation -- anything. I could float off this floor like a soap bubble if I wish to. I do not wish to, because the Party does not wish it. You must get rid of those nineteenth-century ideas about the laws of Nature. We make the laws of Nature.'

'But you do not! You are not even masters of this planet. What about Eurasia and Eastasia? You have not conquered them yet.'

'Unimportant. We shall conquer them when it suits us. And if we did not, what difference would it make? We can shut them out of existence. Oceania is the world.'

[Been Fishing]

4. I heard him myself this morning on the broadcast.

He offered no excuse. Said it was the TV station's responsibility to indicated that the package was funded by the administration.

It was enough to make me :puke:

[oxbow]

5. Take ACTION (if you haven't already)

http://www.fairnessdoctrine.com/
http://www.stopfakenews.org/

Sign the two petitions. You can also call the national broadcast television networks and demand that they adopt a policy by which any of their local television stations must clearly disclose the source of any "newscasts" that are actually produced by the government. Their bottom line will force them to do so if enough viewers complain.

You can call
ABC: 212-456-7777
CBS: 212-975-4321
FOX: 310-369-3066
NBC: 212-664-4444
UPN: 310-575-7000
WB: 818-977-6878

Never give up. Never surrender.

[AlinPA]

6. The White House is in full propaganda mode. Media eats it up.

Much of the US population eats it up. Result: Republicans control it all. Everything. When they "go nuclear" on the filibuster, its all downhill from there.

[nonconformist]

7. Legal is all that matters, morality matters not

Remember, everything Hitler did was "legal".

[uppityperson]

10. Exept things like abortions and not drilling in ANWR

Oh wait, ANWR is now legal. Abortions will be illegal soon too, so I guess that takes care of that argument. I HATE Mr.bush and minions!

[UCLA Dem]

8. so disgusting. how can they say they support freedom and democracy?

[guitar man]

9. Pravda

This amounts to nothing but a revisit to the old Soviet-style state run "Pravda". Amazing that after their hero Reagan declared the Soviets an "evil empire" that 20 years later they wind up mimicing that empire in almost every detail.

[paineinthearse]

11. Reuters is late

This was posted in POLITICS at 11:06 - BY A DU MEMBER.

We're better then the media!!!!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1663882

[yorkiemommie1]

12. Macy's in my local mall plays these videos on screens in

... the waiting area of women's fitting rooms, just as they always play FOX NEWS . After months of complaining, I cut up my credit cards, sent them to the president and mgr and told them I will be boycotting their store.

[stevedeshazer]

13. Bush Defends Offering Video News Releases

President Bush on Wednesday defended his administration's practice of providing television stations with video news releases that resemble actual news reports, saying that the practice was legal and that it was up to broadcasters to make clear that any of the releases they used on the air were produced by the government.

Responding to a question during his news conference in the White House briefing room, Mr. Bush said he expected cabinet agencies to abide by a Justice Department memorandum circulated last week that concluded video news releases were legal as long as they were factual and not intended to advocate the administration's positions.

"This has been a longstanding practice of the federal government to use these types of videos," Mr. Bush said. "The Agricultural Department, as I understand it, has been using these videos for a long period of time. The Defense Department, other departments have been doing so. It's important that they be based on the guidelines set out by the Justice Department."

link: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/17/politics/17video.html

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
My headline choice would read: "Bush Defends Fake News"

[struggle4progress]

14. kick

[The Gunslinger]

15. I'm so glad my tax money goes to pay for this crap. (nt)