FalconBlog--Triumphs and Trials in the BGSU Falcon Nation

PRAVDA LIVES IN WASHINGTON DC

U.S. Videos, for TV News, Come Under Scrutiny

March 15, 2004
By ROBERT PEAR


WASHINGTON, March 14 - Federal investigators are
scrutinizing television segments in which the Bush
administration paid people to pose as journalists praising
the benefits of the new Medicare law, which would be
offered to help elderly Americans with the costs of their
prescription medicines.

The videos are intended for use in local television news
programs. Several include pictures of President Bush
receiving a standing ovation from a crowd cheering as he
signed the Medicare law on Dec. 8.

The materials were produced by the Department of Health and
Human Services, which called them video news releases, 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 her to read a script prepared by the
government.

Another video, intended for Hispanic audiences, shows a
Bush administration official being interviewed in Spanish
by a man who identifies himself as a reporter named Alberto
Garcia.

Another segment shows a pharmacist talking to an elderly
customer. 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 describes
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 looking into the use of federal
money to pay for certain fliers and advertisements that
publicize the Medicare law.

In a report to Congress last week, the lawyers said those
fliers 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 L. 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 W. Keane, a spokesman for the Department of Health
and Human Services, said there was nothing nefarious about
the television materials, which he said had been
distributed to stations nationwide. 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," Mr. 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 flier and advertisements,"
said Senator Frank R. Lautenberg, Democrat of New Jersey.
"The distribution of these videos is a covert attempt to
manipulate the press."

Mr. Lautenberg, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of
Massachusetts, and seven other members of Congress
requested the original review by the accounting office.

In the videos and advertisements, the government urges
beneficiaries to call a toll-free telephone number,
1-800-MEDICARE. People who call that number can obtain
recorded information about prescription drug benefits if
they recite the words "Medicare improvement."

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," says one document from the
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Other documents suggest the scope of the publicity
campaign: $12.6 million for advertising this winter, $18.5
million to publicize drug discount cards this spring, about
$18.5 million this summer, $30 million for a year of
beneficiary education starting this fall and $44 million
starting in the fall of 2005.

"Video news releases" have been used 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.

The videos became more prominent in the late 1980's, as
more and more television stations cut news-gathering
budgets and were glad to have packaged news bits to call
their own, even if they were prepared by corporations
seeking to sell products.

As such, the videos have drawn criticism from some news
media ethicists, who consider them to be at odds with
journalism's mission to verify independently the claims of
corporations and governments.

Government agencies have also produced such videos for
years, often on subjects like teenage smoking and the
dangers of using steroids. But the Medicare materials
wander into more controversial territory.

Bill Kovach, chairman of the Committee of Concerned
Journalists, expressed disbelief that any television
stations would present the Medicare videos as real news
segments, considering the current debate about the merits
of the new law.

"Those to me are just the next thing to fraud," Mr. Kovach
said. "It's running a paid advertisement in the heart of a
news program."

Jim Rutenberg contributed reporting for this article.

Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company