Well I guess one way to circumvent the liberal media conspiracy is to just invent your own news, complete with actors and scripts.Washington -- Congressional investigators are scrutinizing television segments in which the Bush administration paid people to pose as journalists praising the benefits of the new Medicare law, intended to help elderly Americans with the costs of their prescription medicines.
The videos, a hybrid of advertising and journalism, are intended for use in local television news programs.
Several of the videos include pictures of President Bush receiving a standing ovation from a crowd cheering as he signed the Medicare drug-benefit law on Dec. 8.
The materials were produced by the Department of Health and Human Services, but the source is not identified. Two videos end with the voice of a woman who says, "In Washington, I'm Karen Ryan reporting."
But the production company, Home Front Communications, said it had hired Ryan to read a script prepared by the government.
Another video, intended for Latino audiences, shows a Bush administration official being interviewed in Spanish by a man who identifies himself as a reporter named Alberto Garcia.
One television segment shows a pharmacist talking to an elderly customer at a drugstore counter. The pharmacist says the new law "helps you better afford your medications," and the customer says, "It sounds like a good idea." Indeed, the pharmacist says, "A very good idea."
The government also prepared scripts that can be used by news anchors introducing what the administration described as a made-for-television "story package."
In one script, the administration suggests that anchors use this language: "In December, President Bush signed into law the first-ever prescription drug benefit for people with Medicare.
"Since then, there have been a lot of questions about how the law will help older Americans and people with disabilities. Reporter Karen Ryan helps sort through the details."
The "reporter" then explains the benefits of the new law.
Lawyers from the General Accounting Office, an investigative arm of Congress, discovered the materials last month when they were investigating the use of federal money to pay for certain flyers and advertisements that publicize the Medicare law.
In a report to Congress last week, the lawyers said those flyers and advertisements were legal, despite "notable omissions and other weaknesses."
Administration officials said the television news segments were also a legal, effective way to educate beneficiaries.
Gary Kepplinger, deputy general counsel of the accounting office, said, "We are actively considering some follow-up work related to the materials we received from the Department of Health and Human Services."
One question is whether the government might mislead viewers by concealing the source of the Medicare videos, which have been broadcast by stations in Oklahoma, Louisiana and other states.
Federal law prohibits the use of federal money for "publicity or propaganda purposes" not authorized by Congress.
In the past, the General Accounting Office has found that federal agencies violated this restriction when they disseminated editorials and newspaper articles written by the government or its contractors, without identifying the source.
Kevin Keane, a spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services, said there was nothing nefarious about the television broadcast materials, which he said had been distributed to television stations across the country. Under federal law, he said, the government is required to inform beneficiaries about changes in Medicare.
"The use of video news releases is a common, routine practice in government and the private sector," Keane said. "Anyone who has questions about this practice needs to do some research on modern public information tools."
But Democrats disagreed. "These materials are even more disturbing than the Medicare flyer and advertisements," said Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J.
"The distribution of these videos is a covert attempt to manipulate the press," he said.
Lautenberg, Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and seven other members of Congress requested the original review by the accounting office.
Documents from the Medicare agency show why the administration is eager to advertise the benefits of the new law, on radio and television, in newspapers and on the Internet.
"Our consumer research has shown that beneficiaries are confused about the Medicare Modernization Act and uncertain about what it means for them," states one document from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
A recent Kaiser Family Foundation survey indicated that only a fraction of the U.S. seniors understood the law, and the more they learned about it, the less they liked it.
In addition to offering seniors and the disabled a limited drug benefit beginning in 2006, the law gives private insurance companies billions of dollars to lure beneficiaries away from traditional Medicare and into managed care.
"Video news releases" have been in use for more than a decade. Pharmaceutical companies have done particularly well with them, producing news- style health features about the afflictions their drugs are meant to cure.
Such videos have drawn criticism from some news media ethicists, who consider them to be at cross-purposes with journalism's mission to verify independently the claims of corporations and governments.
It sounds like a good idea.
