Prepackaged News

This is the best...Under Bush, a New Age of Prepackaged News By DAVID BARSTOW and ROBIN STEIN Published: March 13, 2005 Transportation Security Administration TRANSPORTATION SECURITY ADMINISTRATION: A report on airport security improvements. ARTICLE TOOLS Printer-Friendly Format Most E-Mailed Articles Reprints & Permissions Single-Page Format THE MESSAGE MACHINE How the Government Makes News T.S.A. Report on Airport Security This video news release features a "reporter" who is a public-relations professional working under a false name for the Transportation Security Administration. More Video: U.S.D.A. Video Index State Department Report on Fall of Baghdad (Windows Media Player) Ready-Made 'News' RELATED Administration Is Warned About Its 'News' Videos (February 19, 2005) 1. Op-Ed Columnist: Saturday Night Lite 2. Does the Affordable Paris Bistro Still Exist? Oui. 3. Op-Ed Columnist: 'I Have a Nightmare' 4. Under Bush, a New Age of Prepackaged News 5. Drinking Game Can Be a Deadly Rite of Passage Go to Complete List Army and Air Force Hometown News Service DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE: A segment about a training program for military prison guards. t is the kind of TV news coverage every president covets. "Thank you, Bush. Thank you, U.S.A.," a jubilant Iraqi-American told a camera crew in Kansas City for a segment about reaction to the fall of Baghdad. A second report told of "another success" in the Bush administration's "drive to strengthen aviation security"; the reporter called it "one of the most remarkable campaigns in aviation history." A third segment, broadcast in January, described the administration's determination to open markets for American farmers. To a viewer, each report looked like any other 90-second segment on the local news. In fact, the federal government produced all three. The report from Kansas City was made by the State Department. The "reporter" covering airport safety was actually a public relations professional working under a false name for the Transportation Security Administration. The farming segment was done by the Agriculture Department's office of communications. Under the Bush administration, 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, including the Defense Department and the Census Bureau, have made and distributed hundreds of television news segments in the past four years, records and interviews show. Many were subsequently broadcast on local stations across the country without any acknowledgement of the government's role in their production. This winter, Washington has been roiled by revelations that a handful of columnists wrote in support of administration policies without disclosing they had accepted payments from the government. But the administration's efforts to generate positive news coverage have been considerably more pervasive than previously known. At the same time, records and interviews suggest widespread complicity or negligence by television stations, given industry ethics standards that discourage the broadcast of prepackaged news segments from any outside group without revealing the source. Federal agencies are forthright with broadcasters about the origin of the news segments they distribute. The reports themselves, though, are designed to fit seamlessly into the typical local news broadcast. In most cases, the "reporters" are careful not to state in the segment that they work for the government. Their reports generally avoid overt ideological appeals. Instead, the government's news-making apparatus has produced a quiet drumbeat of broadcasts describing a vigilant and compassionate administration. Some reports were produced to support the administration's most cherished policy objectives, like regime change in Iraq or Medicare reform. Others focused on less prominent matters, like the administration's efforts to offer free after-school tutoring, its campaign to curb childhood obesity, its initiatives to preserve forests and wetlands, its plans to fight computer viruses, even its attempts to fight holiday drunken driving. They often feature "interviews" with senior administration officials in which questions are scripted and answers rehearsed. Critics, though, are excluded, as are any hints of mismanagement, waste or controversy. Some of the segments were broadcast in some of nation's largest television markets, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas and Atlanta. An examination of government-produced news reports offers a look inside a world where the traditional lines between public relations and journalism have become tangled, where local anchors introduce prepackaged segments with "suggested" lead-ins written by public relations experts. It is a world where government-produced reports disappear into a maze of satellite transmissions, Web portals, syndicated news programs and network feeds, only to emerge cleansed on the other side as "independent" journalism. It is also a world where all participants benefit. <!--break--> <h2>Under Bush, a New Age of Prepackaged News</h2></nyt_headline /><nyt_byline type=" " version="1.0" /><font size="-1"><strong>By DAVID BARSTOW and ROBIN STEIN </strong></font><br /></nyt_byline /><img height="5" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/misc/spacer.gif" width="1" /><br /><font class="publishDate">Published: March 13, 2005</font><br /><br /><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="194" align="right" border="0"><tbody><tr><td width="10"><img height="1" src="/images/misc/spacer.gif" width="10" /></td><td valign="top" width="184"><nyt_links_onsite /><!--inline start --><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="184" align="right" border="0"><!--cobranding elements --><tbody><tr><td width="184"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="184" border="0"><tbody><tr><td><img height="174" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2005/03/12/national/screen.1843.jpg" width="184" align="center" border="0" /><br /><div align="right"><font size="-2">Transportation Security Administration</font></div><font size="-1">TRANSPORTATION SECURITY ADMINISTRATION: A report on airport security improvements.</font> </td></tr></tbody></table><br clear="all" /></td></tr><tr><td width="184"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="184" border="0"><tbody><tr><td width="184" bgcolor="#999999" colspan="2"><img height="2" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/misc/spacer.gif" width="1" border="0" /></td></tr><tr><td width="10"><img height="15" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/misc/spacer.gif" width="1" border="0" /></td><td class="subheader" valign="middle" width="174">ARTICLE TOOLS</td></tr></tbody></table><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="184" border="0"><tbody><tr><td width="184" bgcolor="#cccccc" colspan="2"><img height="1" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/misc/spacer.gif" width="1" border="0" /></td></tr><tr><td width="184" colspan="2"><img height="2" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/misc/spacer.gif" width="1" border="0" /></td></tr><tr><td align="center" width="17"></td><td valign="middle" width="167"></td></tr><tr><td valign="middle" width="17"><a href="/2005/03/13/politics/13covert.html?ei=5094&en=13c49ccf73932e2e&hp=&ex=1110690000&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print&position="><img height="16" alt="Printer Friendly Format" hspace="6" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/article/functions/icon_print.gif" width="16" vspace="2" border="0" /></a></td><td valign="middle" width="167"><span class="small"><a href="/2005/03/13/politics/13covert.html?ei=5094&en=13c49ccf73932e2e&hp=&ex=1110690000&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print&position="><u><font color="#0000ff">Printer-Friendly Format</font></u></a></span></td></tr><tr><td valign="middle" width="17"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/gst/mostemailed.html"><u><font color="#0000ff"><img height="16" alt="Most E-mailed Articles" hspace="6" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/article/functions/icon_most_emailed.gif" width="16" vspace="2" border="0" /></font></u></a></td><td valign="middle" width="167"><span class="small"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/gst/mostemailed.html"><u><font color="#0000ff">Most E-Mailed Articles</font></u></a></span></td></tr><tr><td valign="middle" width="17"><a onclick="function anonymous() { function anonymous() { submitCCCForm(); 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Report on Airport Security" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2005/02/26/politics/security75.jpg" width="75" align="right" border="0" /></a> <a href="javascript:pop_me_up2('http://www.nytimes.com/video/html/2005/02/26/politics/20050226_SECURITY_VIDEO.html','776550','width=776,height=550,scrollbars=yes,toolbars=no,resizable=yes');"><strong><u><font color="#0000ff">T.S.A. Report on Airport Security</font></u></strong><br />This video news release features a &quot;reporter&quot; who is a public-relations professional working under a false name for the Transportation Security Administration. <p><strong>More Video:</strong><br /><img height="4" alt="." src="/images/article/bullet_blue.gif" width="9" vspace="5" /></p></a /></a><a href="http://www.usda.gov/agency/oc/bmtc/vidnews.htm" target="new"><u><font color="#0000ff">U.S.D.A. Video Index</font></u></a> <br /><img height="4" alt="." src="/images/article/bullet_blue.gif" width="9" vspace="5" /><a href="http://www.state.gov/r/pa/obs/vid/c9993.htm" target="new"><u><font color="#0000ff">State Department Report on Fall of Baghdad</font></u></a> (Windows Media Player)<br /></div><br /><br clear="all" /></td></tr><tr><td class="multimediaBox" width="162" colspan="2"><img height="25" alt="Multimedia" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/misc/multimedia_promo_hd.gif" width="162" border="0" /> <div class="multimediaBox"><div class="item"><a href="javascript:pop_me_up2('/imagepages/2005/03/12/politics/20050313cover_graphic.html','4811200','width=551,height=560,scrollbars=yes,toolbars=no,resizable=yes');"><img class="kicker" height="20" alt="null" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/template_images/sectionfront_kicker/graphic.gif" width="162" border="0" /><u><font color="#0000ff"> </font></u></a><div class="headline"><a href="javascript:pop_me_up2('/imagepages/2005/03/12/politics/20050313cover_graphic.html','4811200','width=551,height=560,scrollbars=yes,toolbars=no,resizable=yes');"><u><font color="#0000ff">Ready-Made 'News'</font></u></a></div><div class="summary"><u><font color="#0000ff"></font></u></div></div></div></td></tr><tr><td width="162" colspan="2"><u><font color="#0000ff"><img height="10" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/misc/spacer.gif" width="162" /><br /><img height="3" alt="..........." src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/article/edit_dots.gif" width="162" /><br /><img height="10" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/misc/spacer.gif" width="162" /><br /></font></u></td></tr><tr><td width="162" colspan="2"><font class="subheader">RELATED</font><br /><img height="3" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/misc/spacer.gif" width="1" /><br /></td></tr><tr><td valign="top" width="9"><img height="4" alt="." src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/article/bullet_blue.gif" width="9" vspace="5" /></td><td class="small" valign="top" width="153"><a class="small" href="/2005/02/19/politics/19gao.html"><u><font color="#0000ff">Administration Is Warned About Its 'News' Videos</font></u></a> (February 19, 2005) <br /></td></tr></tbody></table></td><td width="1" bgcolor="#cccccc"><img height="1" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/misc/spacer.gif" width="1" /></td></tr><tr><td width="184" bgcolor="#cccccc" colspan="3"><img height="1" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/misc/spacer.gif" width="184" /></td></tr></tbody></table><br clear="all" /><!--end editorial --></td></tr><tr><td width="184"><div class="mostEmailedBox"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="162" border="0"><tbody><tr><td width="162" colspan="2"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/gst/pop_top.html"><img height="25" alt="Most E-Mailed" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/misc/mostemailed.gif" width="162" border="0" /></a> </td></tr><tr><td valign="top" width="12"><div class="headline">1.</div></td><td valign="top" width="150"><div class="headline"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/12/opinion/12brooks.html?incamp=article_popular_1"><u><font color="#0000ff">Op-Ed Columnist: Saturday Night Lite</font></u></a></div><div style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 5px"><u><font color="#0000ff"></font></u></div></td></tr><tr><td valign="top" width="12"><div class="headline">2.</div></td><td valign="top" width="150"><div class="headline"><a href="http://travel2.nytimes.com/2005/03/13/travel/13tables.html?incamp=article_popular_2"><u><font color="#0000ff">Does the Affordable Paris Bistro Still Exist? Oui.</font></u></a></div><div style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 5px"><u><font color="#0000ff"></font></u></div></td></tr><tr><td valign="top" width="12"><div class="headline">3.</div></td><td valign="top" width="150"><div class="headline"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/12/opinion/12kristof.html?incamp=article_popular_3"><u><font color="#0000ff">Op-Ed Columnist: 'I Have a Nightmare'</font></u></a></div><div style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 5px"><u><font color="#0000ff"></font></u></div></td></tr><tr><td valign="top" width="12"><div class="headline">4.</div></td><td valign="top" width="150"><div class="headline"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/13/politics/13covert.html?incamp=article_popular_4"><u><font color="#0000ff">Under Bush, a New Age of Prepackaged News</font></u></a></div><div style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 5px"><u><font color="#0000ff"></font></u></div></td></tr><tr><td valign="top" width="12"><div class="headline">5.</div></td><td valign="top" width="150"><div class="headline"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/12/education/12power.html?incamp=article_popular_5"><u><font color="#0000ff">Drinking Game Can Be a Deadly Rite of Passage</font></u></a></div><div style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 5px"><u><font color="#0000ff"></font></u></div></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2"><div style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 5px"><u><font color="#0000ff"></font></u></div><div class="headline"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/gst/pop_top.html?incamp=article_popular_list"><u><font color="#0000ff">Go to Complete List</font></u></a></div><div style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 5px"><u><font color="#0000ff"></font></u></div></td></tr></tbody></table></div><br clear="all" /></td></tr><tr><td width="184"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="184" border="0"><tbody><tr><td><u><font color="#0000ff"><img height="9" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/misc/spacer.gif" width="184" /></font></u></td></tr><tr><td><u><font color="#0000ff"><img height="145" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2005/03/12/national/13screen.1845.jpg" width="184" align="center" border="0" /><br /></font></u><div align="right"><font size="-2">Army and Air Force Hometown News Service</font></div><font size="-1">DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE: A segment about a training program for military prison guards.</font> </td></tr></tbody></table><br clear="all" /></td></tr><tr><td width="184"></td></tr></tbody></table><!--inline end --></nyt_links_onsite /></td></tr></tbody></table><nyt_text /><p><img height="33" alt="I" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/dropcap/i.gif" width="11" align="left" border="0" />t is the kind of TV news coverage every president covets.</p><p>&quot;Thank you, Bush. Thank you, U.S.A.,&quot; a jubilant Iraqi-American told a camera crew in Kansas City for a segment about reaction to the fall of Baghdad. A second report told of &quot;another success&quot; in the Bush administration's &quot;drive to strengthen aviation security&quot;; the reporter called it &quot;one of the most remarkable campaigns in aviation history.&quot; A third segment, broadcast in January, described the administration's determination to open markets for American farmers.</p><p>To a viewer, each report looked like any other 90-second segment on the local news. In fact, the federal government produced all three. The report from Kansas City was made by the State Department. The &quot;reporter&quot; covering airport safety was actually a public relations professional working under a false name for the Transportation Security Administration. The farming segment was done by the Agriculture Department's office of communications. </p><p>Under the Bush administration, 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, including the Defense Department and the Census Bureau, have made and distributed hundreds of television news segments in the past four years, records and interviews show. Many were subsequently broadcast on local stations across the country without any acknowledgement of the government's role in their production.</p><p>This winter, Washington has been roiled by revelations that a handful of columnists wrote in support of administration policies without disclosing they had accepted payments from the government. But the administration's efforts to generate positive news coverage have been considerably more pervasive than previously known. At the same time, records and interviews suggest widespread complicity or negligence by television stations, given industry ethics standards that discourage the broadcast of prepackaged news segments from any outside group without revealing the source.</p><p>Federal agencies are forthright with broadcasters about the origin of the news segments they distribute. The reports themselves, though, are designed to fit seamlessly into the typical local news broadcast. In most cases, the &quot;reporters&quot; are careful not to state in the segment that they work for the government. Their reports generally avoid overt ideological appeals. Instead, the government's news-making apparatus has produced a quiet drumbeat of broadcasts describing a vigilant and compassionate administration.</p><p>Some reports were produced to support the administration's most cherished policy objectives, like regime change in Iraq or Medicare reform. Others focused on less prominent matters, like the administration's efforts to offer free after-school tutoring, its campaign to curb childhood obesity, its initiatives to preserve forests and wetlands, its plans to fight computer viruses, even its attempts to fight holiday drunken driving. They often feature &quot;interviews&quot; with senior administration officials in which questions are scripted and answers rehearsed. Critics, though, are excluded, as are any hints of mismanagement, waste or controversy. </p><p>Some of the segments were broadcast in some of nation's largest television markets, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas and Atlanta. </p><p>An examination of government-produced news reports offers a look inside a world where the traditional lines between public relations and journalism have become tangled, where local anchors introduce prepackaged segments with &quot;suggested&quot; lead-ins written by public relations experts. It is a world where government-produced reports disappear into a maze of satellite transmissions, Web portals, syndicated news programs and network feeds, only to emerge cleansed on the other side as &quot;independent&quot; journalism.</p><p>It is also a world where all participants benefit.</p>

<p>This is the best...Under Bush, a New Age of Prepackaged News<br /> By DAVID BARSTOW and ROBIN STEIN </p> <p>Published: March 13, 2005</p> <p>Transportation Security Administration<br /> TRANSPORTATION SECURITY ADMINISTRATION: A report on airport security improvements. </p> <p> ARTICLE TOOLS </p> <p> Printer-Friendly Format<br /> Most E-Mailed Articles<br /> Reprints &amp; Permissions<br /> Single-Page Format </p> <p>THE MESSAGE MACHINE<br /> How the Government Makes News</p> <p> T.S.A. Report on Airport Security<br /> This video news release features a "reporter" who is a public-relations professional working under a false name for the Transportation Security Administration.<br /> More Video:<br /> U.S.D.A. Video Index<br /> State Department Report on Fall of Baghdad (Windows Media Player)</p> <p>Ready-Made 'News' </p> <p>RELATED</p> <p> Administration Is Warned About Its 'News' Videos (February 19, 2005) </p> <p>1. Op-Ed Columnist: Saturday Night Lite<br /> 2. Does the Affordable Paris Bistro Still Exist? Oui.<br /> 3. Op-Ed Columnist: 'I Have a Nightmare'<br /> 4. Under Bush, a New Age of Prepackaged News<br /> 5. Drinking Game Can Be a Deadly Rite of Passage<br /> Go to Complete List </p> <p>Army and Air Force Hometown News Service<br /> DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE: A segment about a training program for military prison guards. </p> <p>t is the kind of TV news coverage every president covets.</p> <p>"Thank you, Bush. Thank you, U.S.A.," a jubilant Iraqi-American told a camera crew in Kansas City for a segment about reaction to the fall of Baghdad. A second report told of "another success" in the Bush administration's "drive to strengthen aviation security"; the reporter called it "one of the most remarkable campaigns in aviation history." A third segment, broadcast in January, described the administration's determination to open markets for American farmers.</p> <p>To a viewer, each report looked like any other 90-second segment on the local news. In fact, the federal government produced all three. The report from Kansas City was made by the State Department. The "reporter" covering airport safety was actually a public relations professional working under a false name for the Transportation Security Administration. The farming segment was done by the Agriculture Department's office of communications. </p> <p>Under the Bush administration, 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, including the Defense Department and the Census Bureau, have made and distributed hundreds of television news segments in the past four years, records and interviews show. Many were subsequently broadcast on local stations across the country without any acknowledgement of the government's role in their production.</p> <p>This winter, Washington has been roiled by revelations that a handful of columnists wrote in support of administration policies without disclosing they had accepted payments from the government. But the administration's efforts to generate positive news coverage have been considerably more pervasive than previously known. At the same time, records and interviews suggest widespread complicity or negligence by television stations, given industry ethics standards that discourage the broadcast of prepackaged news segments from any outside group without revealing the source.</p> <p>Federal agencies are forthright with broadcasters about the origin of the news segments they distribute. The reports themselves, though, are designed to fit seamlessly into the typical local news broadcast. In most cases, the "reporters" are careful not to state in the segment that they work for the government. Their reports generally avoid overt ideological appeals. Instead, the government's news-making apparatus has produced a quiet drumbeat of broadcasts describing a vigilant and compassionate administration.</p> <p>Some reports were produced to support the administration's most cherished policy objectives, like regime change in Iraq or Medicare reform. Others focused on less prominent matters, like the administration's efforts to offer free after-school tutoring, its campaign to curb childhood obesity, its initiatives to preserve forests and wetlands, its plans to fight computer viruses, even its attempts to fight holiday drunken driving. They often feature "interviews" with senior administration officials in which questions are scripted and answers rehearsed. Critics, though, are excluded, as are any hints of mismanagement, waste or controversy. </p> <p>Some of the segments were broadcast in some of nation's largest television markets, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas and Atlanta. </p> <p>An examination of government-produced news reports offers a look inside a world where the traditional lines between public relations and journalism have become tangled, where local anchors introduce prepackaged segments with "suggested" lead-ins written by public relations experts. It is a world where government-produced reports disappear into a maze of satellite transmissions, Web portals, syndicated news programs and network feeds, only to emerge cleansed on the other side as "independent" journalism.</p> <p>It is also a world where all participants benefit.</p> <!--break--><h2>Under Bush, a New Age of Prepackaged News</h2> <p>/&gt;<nyt_byline type=" " version="1.0"></nyt_byline><font size="-1"><strong>By DAVID BARSTOW and ROBIN STEIN </strong></font><br />/&gt;<img height="5" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/misc/spacer.gif" width="1" /><br /><font class="publishDate">Published: March 13, 2005</font></p> <table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="194" align="right" border="0"> <tbody> <tr> <td width="10"><img height="1" src="/images/misc/spacer.gif" width="10" /></td> <td valign="top" width="184"><nyt_links_onsite></nyt_links_onsite> <!--inline start --><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="184" align="right" border="0"> <!--cobranding elements --><tbody> <tr> <td width="184"> <table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="184" border="0"> <tbody> <tr> <td><img height="174" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2005/03/12/national/screen.1843.jpg" width="184" align="center" border="0" /><br /> <div align="right"><font size="-2">Transportation Security Administration</font></div> <p><font size="-1">TRANSPORTATION SECURITY ADMINISTRATION: A report on airport security improvements.</font> </p></td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <p><br clear="all" /></p></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="184"> <table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="184" border="0"> <tbody> <tr> <td width="184" bgcolor="#999999" colspan="2"><img height="2" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/misc/spacer.gif" width="1" border="0" /></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="10"><img height="15" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/misc/spacer.gif" width="1" border="0" /></td> <td class="subheader" valign="middle" width="174">ARTICLE TOOLS</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="184" border="0"> <tbody> <tr> <td width="184" bgcolor="#cccccc" colspan="2"><img height="1" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/misc/spacer.gif" width="1" border="0" /></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="184" colspan="2"><img height="2" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/misc/spacer.gif" width="1" border="0" /></td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center" width="17"></td> <td valign="middle" width="167"></td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="middle" width="17"><a href="/2005/03/13/politics/13covert.html?ei=5094&amp;en=13c49ccf73932e2e&amp;hp=&amp;ex=1110690000&amp;partner=homepage&amp;pagewanted=print&amp;position="><img height="16" alt="Printer Friendly Format" hspace="6" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/article/functions/icon_print.gif" width="16" vspace="2" border="0" /></a></td> <td valign="middle" width="167"><span class="small"><a href="/2005/03/13/politics/13covert.html?ei=5094&amp;en=13c49ccf73932e2e&amp;hp=&amp;ex=1110690000&amp;partner=homepage&amp;pagewanted=print&amp;position="><u><font color="#0000ff">Printer-Friendly Format</font></u></a></span></td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="middle" width="17"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/gst/mostemailed.html"><u><font color="#0000ff"><img height="16" alt="Most E-mailed Articles" hspace="6" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/article/functions/icon_most_emailed.gif" width="16" vspace="2" border="0" /></font></u></a></td> <td valign="middle" width="167"><span class="small"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/gst/mostemailed.html"><u><font color="#0000ff">Most E-Mailed Articles</font></u></a></span></td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="middle" width="17"><a onclick="function anonymous()&lt;br /&gt;&#10;{&lt;br /&gt;&#10;function anonymous()&lt;br /&gt;&#10;{&lt;br /&gt;&#10;submitCCCForm();&lt;br /&gt;&#10;}&lt;br /&gt;&#10;}" href="#"><u><font color="#0000ff"><img height="16" alt="Reprints &amp; Permissions" hspace="6" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/article/functions/icon_reprints.gif" width="16" vspace="2" border="0" /></font></u></a></td> <td valign="middle" width="167"><span class="small"><a onclick="function anonymous()&lt;br /&gt;&#10;{&lt;br /&gt;&#10;function anonymous()&lt;br /&gt;&#10;{&lt;br /&gt;&#10;submitCCCForm();&lt;br /&gt;&#10;}&lt;br /&gt;&#10;}" href="#"><u><font color="#0000ff">Reprints &amp; Permissions</font></u></a></span></td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="middle" width="17"><a href="/2005/03/13/politics/13covert.html?ei=5094&amp;en=13c49ccf73932e2e&amp;hp=&amp;ex=1110690000&amp;partner=homepage&amp;pagewanted=all&amp;position="><u><font color="#0000ff"><img height="16" alt="Single Page Format" hspace="6" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/article/functions/icon_single.gif" width="16" vspace="2" border="0" /> </font></u></a></td> <td valign="middle" width="167"><span class="small"><a href="/2005/03/13/politics/13covert.html?ei=5094&amp;en=13c49ccf73932e2e&amp;hp=&amp;ex=1110690000&amp;partner=homepage&amp;pagewanted=all&amp;position="><u><font color="#0000ff">Single-Page Format </font></u></a></span></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="184" colspan="2"><u><font color="#0000ff"><img height="1" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/article/functions/dotted_divider.gif" width="184" /></font></u></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="184" colspan="2"> <!-- ADXINFO classification="logo_strips" campaign="foxsearch-emailtools08-nyt5"--><p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/adx/bin/adx_click.html?type=goto&amp;page=www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/politics&amp;pos=Frame4&amp;camp=foxsearch-emailtools08-nyt5&amp;ad=millions_articletools.gif&amp;goto=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Efoxsearchlight%2Ecom%2Fmillions%2Findex%5Fnyt%2Ehtml%20" target="_blank"><u><font color="#0000ff"><img src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/adx/images/ADS/11/24/ad.112464/millions_articletools.gif" border="0" /></font></u></a> </p></td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <p><br clear="all" /></p></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="184"> <!--begin editorial --><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="184" border="0"> <tbody> <tr> <td width="184" bgcolor="#cccccc" colspan="3"><img height="1" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/misc/spacer.gif" width="184" /></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="1" bgcolor="#cccccc"><img height="1" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/misc/spacer.gif" width="1" /></td> <td class="pd" width="182"> <table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="162" border="0"> <tbody> <tr> <td class="small" width="162" colspan="2"><img height="2" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/misc/spacer.gif" width="162" /></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="small" width="162" colspan="2"><strong>THE MESSAGE MACHINE</strong><br /><em>How the Government Makes News</em> <div class="epromoText"><img height="25" alt="Multimedia" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/misc/multimedia_promo_hd.gif" width="162" border="0" /><br /><a href="javascript:pop_me_up2('http://www.nytimes.com/video/html/2005/02/26/politics/20050226_SECURITY_VIDEO.html','776550','width=776,height=550,scrollbars=yes,toolbars=no,resizable=yes');"><img class="kicker" height="20" alt="null" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/template_images/sectionfront_kicker/video.gif" width="162" border="0" /><br /></a><a href="javascript:pop_me_up2('http://www.nytimes.com/video/html/2005/02/26/politics/20050226_SECURITY_VIDEO.html','776550','width=776,height=550,scrollbars=yes,toolbars=no,resizable=yes');"><img height="75" alt="T.S.A. Report on Airport Security" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2005/02/26/politics/security75.jpg" width="75" align="right" border="0" /></a> <a href="javascript:pop_me_up2('http://www.nytimes.com/video/html/2005/02/26/politics/20050226_SECURITY_VIDEO.html','776550','width=776,height=550,scrollbars=yes,toolbars=no,resizable=yes');"><strong><u><font color="#0000ff">T.S.A. Report on Airport Security</font></u></strong><br />This video news release features a "reporter" who is a public-relations professional working under a false name for the Transportation Security Administration. <p><strong>More Video:</strong><br /><img height="4" alt="." src="/images/article/bullet_blue.gif" width="9" vspace="5" /></p> <p></p></a>/&gt;<a href="http://www.usda.gov/agency/oc/bmtc/vidnews.htm" target="new"><u><font color="#0000ff">U.S.D.A. Video Index</font></u></a> <br /><img height="4" alt="." src="/images/article/bullet_blue.gif" width="9" vspace="5" /><a href="http://www.state.gov/r/pa/obs/vid/c9993.htm" target="new"><u><font color="#0000ff">State Department Report on Fall of Baghdad</font></u></a> (Windows Media Player)</div> <p><br clear="all" /></p></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="multimediaBox" width="162" colspan="2"><img height="25" alt="Multimedia" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/misc/multimedia_promo_hd.gif" width="162" border="0" /><br /> <div class="multimediaBox"> <div class="item"><a href="javascript:pop_me_up2('/imagepages/2005/03/12/politics/20050313cover_graphic.html','4811200','width=551,height=560,scrollbars=yes,toolbars=no,resizable=yes');"><img class="kicker" height="20" alt="null" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/template_images/sectionfront_kicker/graphic.gif" width="162" border="0" /><u><font color="#0000ff"> </font></u></a><br /> <div class="headline"><a href="javascript:pop_me_up2('/imagepages/2005/03/12/politics/20050313cover_graphic.html','4811200','width=551,height=560,scrollbars=yes,toolbars=no,resizable=yes');"><u><font color="#0000ff">Ready-Made 'News'</font></u></a></div> <div class="summary"><u><font color="#0000ff"></font></u></div> </div> </div> </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="162" colspan="2"><u><font color="#0000ff"><img height="10" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/misc/spacer.gif" width="162" /><br /><img height="3" alt="..........." src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/article/edit_dots.gif" width="162" /><br /><img height="10" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/misc/spacer.gif" width="162" /><br /></font></u></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="162" colspan="2"><font class="subheader">RELATED</font><br /><img height="3" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/misc/spacer.gif" width="1" /></td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="9"><img height="4" alt="." src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/article/bullet_blue.gif" width="9" vspace="5" /></td> <td class="small" valign="top" width="153"><a class="small" href="/2005/02/19/politics/19gao.html"><u><font color="#0000ff">Administration Is Warned About Its 'News' Videos</font></u></a> (February 19, 2005) </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> </td> <td width="1" bgcolor="#cccccc"><img height="1" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/misc/spacer.gif" width="1" /></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="184" bgcolor="#cccccc" colspan="3"><img height="1" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/misc/spacer.gif" width="184" /></td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <p><br clear="all" /></p> <!--end editorial --></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="184"> <div class="mostEmailedBox"> <table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="162" border="0"> <tbody> <tr> <td width="162" colspan="2"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/gst/pop_top.html"><img height="25" alt="Most E-Mailed" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/misc/mostemailed.gif" width="162" border="0" /></a> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="12"> <div class="headline">1.</div> </td> <td valign="top" width="150"> <div class="headline"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/12/opinion/12brooks.html?incamp=article_popular_1"><u><font color="#0000ff">Op-Ed Columnist: Saturday Night Lite</font></u></a></div> <div style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 5px"><u><font color="#0000ff"></font></u></div> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="12"> <div class="headline">2.</div> </td> <td valign="top" width="150"> <div class="headline"><a href="http://travel2.nytimes.com/2005/03/13/travel/13tables.html?incamp=article_popular_2"><u><font color="#0000ff">Does the Affordable Paris Bistro Still Exist? Oui.</font></u></a></div> <div style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 5px"><u><font color="#0000ff"></font></u></div> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="12"> <div class="headline">3.</div> </td> <td valign="top" width="150"> <div class="headline"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/12/opinion/12kristof.html?incamp=article_popular_3"><u><font color="#0000ff">Op-Ed Columnist: 'I Have a Nightmare'</font></u></a></div> <div style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 5px"><u><font color="#0000ff"></font></u></div> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="12"> <div class="headline">4.</div> </td> <td valign="top" width="150"> <div class="headline"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/13/politics/13covert.html?incamp=article_popular_4"><u><font color="#0000ff">Under Bush, a New Age of Prepackaged News</font></u></a></div> <div style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 5px"><u><font color="#0000ff"></font></u></div> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="12"> <div class="headline">5.</div> </td> <td valign="top" width="150"> <div class="headline"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/12/education/12power.html?incamp=article_popular_5"><u><font color="#0000ff">Drinking Game Can Be a Deadly Rite of Passage</font></u></a></div> <div style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 5px"><u><font color="#0000ff"></font></u></div> </td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2"> <div style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 5px"><u><font color="#0000ff"></font></u></div> <div class="headline"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/gst/pop_top.html?incamp=article_popular_list"><u><font color="#0000ff">Go to Complete List</font></u></a></div> <div style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 5px"><u><font color="#0000ff"></font></u></div> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> </div> <p><br clear="all" /></p></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="184"> <table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="184" border="0"> <tbody> <tr> <td><u><font color="#0000ff"><img height="9" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/misc/spacer.gif" width="184" /></font></u></td> </tr> <tr> <td><u><font color="#0000ff"><img height="145" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2005/03/12/national/13screen.1845.jpg" width="184" align="center" border="0" /><br /></font></u><br /> <div align="right"><font size="-2">Army and Air Force Hometown News Service</font></div> <p><font size="-1">DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE: A segment about a training program for military prison guards.</font> </p></td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <p><br clear="all" /></p></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="184"></td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <!--inline end --><p>/&gt;</p></td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <p><nyt_text></nyt_text> </p><p><img height="33" alt="I" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/dropcap/i.gif" width="11" align="left" border="0" />t is the kind of TV news coverage every president covets.</p> <p>"Thank you, Bush. Thank you, U.S.A.," a jubilant Iraqi-American told a camera crew in Kansas City for a segment about reaction to the fall of Baghdad. A second report told of "another success" in the Bush administration's "drive to strengthen aviation security"; the reporter called it "one of the most remarkable campaigns in aviation history." A third segment, broadcast in January, described the administration's determination to open markets for American farmers.</p> <p>To a viewer, each report looked like any other 90-second segment on the local news. In fact, the federal government produced all three. The report from Kansas City was made by the State Department. The "reporter" covering airport safety was actually a public relations professional working under a false name for the Transportation Security Administration. The farming segment was done by the Agriculture Department's office of communications. </p> <p>Under the Bush administration, 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, including the Defense Department and the Census Bureau, have made and distributed hundreds of television news segments in the past four years, records and interviews show. Many were subsequently broadcast on local stations across the country without any acknowledgement of the government's role in their production.</p> <p>This winter, Washington has been roiled by revelations that a handful of columnists wrote in support of administration policies without disclosing they had accepted payments from the government. But the administration's efforts to generate positive news coverage have been considerably more pervasive than previously known. At the same time, records and interviews suggest widespread complicity or negligence by television stations, given industry ethics standards that discourage the broadcast of prepackaged news segments from any outside group without revealing the source.</p> <p>Federal agencies are forthright with broadcasters about the origin of the news segments they distribute. The reports themselves, though, are designed to fit seamlessly into the typical local news broadcast. In most cases, the "reporters" are careful not to state in the segment that they work for the government. Their reports generally avoid overt ideological appeals. Instead, the government's news-making apparatus has produced a quiet drumbeat of broadcasts describing a vigilant and compassionate administration.</p> <p>Some reports were produced to support the administration's most cherished policy objectives, like regime change in Iraq or Medicare reform. Others focused on less prominent matters, like the administration's efforts to offer free after-school tutoring, its campaign to curb childhood obesity, its initiatives to preserve forests and wetlands, its plans to fight computer viruses, even its attempts to fight holiday drunken driving. They often feature "interviews" with senior administration officials in which questions are scripted and answers rehearsed. Critics, though, are excluded, as are any hints of mismanagement, waste or controversy. </p> <p>Some of the segments were broadcast in some of nation's largest television markets, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas and Atlanta. </p> <p>An examination of government-produced news reports offers a look inside a world where the traditional lines between public relations and journalism have become tangled, where local anchors introduce prepackaged segments with "suggested" lead-ins written by public relations experts. It is a world where government-produced reports disappear into a maze of satellite transmissions, Web portals, syndicated news programs and network feeds, only to emerge cleansed on the other side as "independent" journalism.</p> <p>It is also a world where all participants benefit.</p>