Back in March, Karen Ryan made a series of P.R. videos to promote the Bush Administration's new Medicare deal. This wouldn't have been a big deal, except she signed off on the promotional videos as "I'm Karen Ryan reporting." ("U.S. Videos, for TV News, Come Under Scrutiny," NYT, March 15, 04) Local TV news stations picked up the videos and ran them as news packages, since Ryan had been represented by the Dept. of Health and Human Services as a "freelance journalist."
Cue the storm when it was discovered that by "freelance journalist," what was really meant was "someone lending j-cred to a promotional endeavor." Editorials were written ("Karen Ryan, You're a Phony," Cleveland Plain Dealer March 16, 04; "Reporting Live, Outside Credibility," NYT, March 20, 04). Ryan didn't take it lying down: she told her side of the story ("I Feel Like Political Roadkill," CJR, March 18, 04) and accused the NYT reporter of "den[ying] me my fundamental right in the process of journalism." ("Checking Facts Basic to Good Journalism," TelevisionWeek, March 29, 04) Ryan did make a good argument when she pointed out that what other people did with the videos was their call and not hers; she seems to avoid directly addressing whether or not she was misrepresenting her PR role by positioning herself as a reporter in the PR video. Considering that her sign-off was what media members found unethical, it's an odd tack.
(NB: to find out why TV stations did air the VNR segment unvetted, this March 22 CJR article "CNN: Spinning PR into News" lays out the hows and whys.)
Jay Rosen offered a different take on the Karen Ryan situation with "Why Karen Ryan Deserved What She Got." And then the whole thing died down because another opportunity for the press to criticize itself came floating by. Or actual news happened. Either is likely.
Anyway, while all this media self-examination was going on, there remained the fundamental question of whether or not the Bush administration ought to have been making those PR videos in the first place. The answer is no:
The General Accounting Office, an investigative arm of Congress, said on Wednesday that the Bush administration had violated federal law by producing and disseminating television news segments that portray the new Medicare law as a boon to the elderly.The agency said the videos were a form of "covert propaganda" because the government was not identified as the source of the materials, broadcast by at least 40 television stations in 33 markets. The agency also expressed some concern about the content of the videos, but based its ruling on the lack of disclosure.
-- White House's Medicare Videos Are Ruled Illegal, NYT, May 20, 04
Unfortunately, the GAO's ruling is likely to have little to no effect:
The finding does not carry legal force, because the GAO acts as an adviser to Congress.
-- "GAO Says HHS Broke Law with Medicare Videos," WaPo, May 20, 04.
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