TITLE:  Circular Letter on Prepackaged News Stories, B-304272, February 17, 2005
BNUMBER:  B-304272
DATE:  February 17, 2005
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   B-304272

   DATE: February 17, 2005

   TO:                  HEADS OF DEPARTMENTS, AGENCIES, AND OTHERS CONCERNED

   SUBJECT:     Circular Letter on Prepackaged News Stories

   Since 1951, Congress has enacted an annual, governmentwide prohibition on
the use of appropriated funds for purposes of "publicity or
propaganda."During the past year, we found that several prepackaged news
stories produced and distributed by certain government agencies violated
this prohibition. [1]  In the course of our work, we learned that
prepackaged news stories have become common tools of the public relations
industry, and that some federal agencies are adopting them as well.  The
purpose of this letter is to remind agencies of the constraints imposed by
the publicity or propaganda prohibition on the use of prepackaged news
stories and to advise vigilance to assure that agencies' activities comply
with the prohibition.  Importantly, prepackaged news stories can be
utilized without violating the law, so long as there is clear disclosure
to the television viewing audience that this material was prepared by or
in cooperation with the government department or agency.

   Prepackaged news stories are complete, audio-video presentations that may
be included in video news releases, or VNRs.[2]  They are intended to be
indistinguishable from news segments broadcast to the public by
independent television news organizations.  To help accomplish this goal,
these stories include actors or others hired to portray "reporters" and
may be accompanied by suggested scripts that television news anchors can
use to introduce the story during the broadcast.  These practices allow
prepackaged news stories to be broadcast, without alteration, as
television news. 

   The current publicity or propaganda prohibition states:  "No part of any
appropriation contained in this or any other Act shall be used for
publicity or propaganda purposes within the United States not heretofore
authorized by the Congress."  Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2005, Pub.
L. No. 108-447, div. G, title II, SA 624, 118 Stat. 2809, 3278 (Dec. 8,
2004).  (The language of the prohibition has remained virtually unchanged
since 1951.)  We have previously taken exception to an agency's use of
appropriated funds to produce printed materials that concealed the
agency's role in sponsoring the materials.  66A Comp. Gen. 707 (1987)
(State Department retained contractors to prepare and have published
newspaper articles and op-ed pieces "as the ostensible position of persons
not associated with the government"); Ba**223098, Ba**223098.2, Oct.A 10,
1986 (Small Business Administration prepared and distributed to newspapers
"suggested editorials . . . for publication as the ostensible editorial
position of the recipient newspapers"). 

   In two cases this past year, the agencies commissioned and distributed
prepackaged news stories and introductory scripts about their activities
that were designed to be indistinguishable from news stories produced by
private news broadcasters.  Ba**303495, Jan. 4, 2005; Ba**302710, MayA 19,
2004.  In neither case did the agency include any statement or other
indication in its news stories that disclosed to the television viewing
audience, the target of the purported news stories, that the agency wrote
and produced those news stories.  In other words, television-viewing
audiences did not know that stories they watched on television news
programs about the government were, in fact, prepared by the government. 
We concluded that those prepackaged news stories violated the publicity or
propaganda prohibition.[3] 

   While agencies generally have the right to disseminate information about
their policies and activities, agencies may not use appropriated funds to
produce or distribute prepackaged news stories intended to be viewed by
television audiences that conceal or do not clearly identify for the
television viewing audience that the agency was the source of those
materials.  It is not enough that the contents of an agency's
communication may be unobjectionable.  Neither is it enough for an agency
to identify itself to the broadcasting organization as the source of the
prepackaged news story. 

   As we stated in B-302710, "In a modest but meaningful way, the publicity
or propaganda restriction helps to mark the boundary between an agency
making information available to the public and agencies creating news
reports unbeknownst to the receiving audience."  See also B-303495,
Jan.A 4, 2005, n.29.  This is not the only marker Congress has enacted to
delineate the boundaries between the government and the free American
press.  See, e.g., 22A U.S.C. SSA 1461, 1461-1a (restricting the domestic
dissemination of news reports originally created by the government for
broadcast abroad).  Statutory limits on the domestic dissemination of U.S.
government-produced news reports reflect concern that allowing the
government to produce domestic news broadcasts would infringe upon the
freedom of the press and constitute (or at least give the appearanceA of)
an attempt to control public opinion.  Ba**118654-O.M., Apr.A 17,A 1979.
     

   Agency officials should scrutinize any proposed prepackaged news stories
to ensure appropriate disclosures.  Should you or your staff have
questions concerning the application of these principles in particular
cases, our Office of General Counsel is available to assist on an informal
consultative basis or, as necessary, on a formal decision basis.  Please
contact Susan A. Poling, Managing Associate General Counsel, at
202-512-2667, or Thomas H. Armstrong, Assistant General Counsel, at
202-512-8257.

   David M. Walker

   Comptroller General

   of the United States

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   [1] B-303495, Jan. 4, 2005 (Office of National Drug Control Policy);
Ba**302710, MayA 19, 2004 (Department of Health and Human Services).

   [2] Among other things, typical VNRs may also contain "B-roll" video
clips, advertisements, and public service announcements.  As a general
matter, B-roll video clips of government officials discussing programs do
not violate the prohibition.  Advertisements and public service
announcements that include the appropriate disclosures are also not
objectionable.  E.g., Ba**343495, Jan. 4, 2004, n.8; B-302710, May, 19,
2004, n.27; B-302504, Mar. 10, 2004.

   [3]Because the agencies had no appropriation available for covert
propaganda purposes, they also violated the Antideficiency Act's
prohibition on obligations in excess of available budget authority,
31A U.S.C. SA 1341(a).  B-303495, Jan. 4, 2005; Ba**302710, MayA 19, 2004.