Senate votes to ban disguised government video news releases News
Senate votes to ban disguised government video news releases

[JURIST] The US Senate [official website] unanimously approved a measure Thursday evening that would bar government agencies from using taxpayer funds to produce video press releases disguised as real news. The amendment [THOMAS amendment summary], whose purpose is to "prohibit the use of funds by any Federal agency to produce a prepackaged news story without including in such story a clear notification for the audience that the story was prepared or funded by a Federal agency," has now been added to the emergency spending bill to fund the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, currently under Senate consideration. Last year, the Government Accountability Office [official website] concluded that Bush administration ads promoting changes in the Medicare law violated the Consolidated Appropriations Resolution of 2003 [GAO decision; JURIST report] because they were made to look like actual news reports. Earlier this year, a GAO circular [text] was sent to agency heads reminding them to "ensure appropriate disclosures" about prepackaged news stories. Speaking Thursday to the American Society of Newspaper Editors [official website], President Bush acknowledged that the prepackaged news stories can be deceptive but said that "it's incumbent upon people who use them to say, this news clip was produced by the federal government." The White House has a transcript of Bush's remarks, as well as recorded video. AP has more.