Video News Releases: Unattributed Prepackaged News Stories
Violate Publicity or Propaganda Prohibition (12-MAY-05,
GAO-05-643T).
In recent years, federal agencies have been increasing their use
of video news releases (VNRs), which frequently include
prepackaged news stories. While the use of VNRs is widespread and
widely known by those in the media industry, the quality and
content of materials considered to constitute a VNR can vary
greatly. Generally, a VNR package may contain several items,
including a series of video clips, known as B-roll footage; title
cards containing relevant information, known as slates; a
prepackaged news story, referred to as a story package; and other
promotional materials. These materials are produced in the same
manner as television news organizations produce materials for
their own news segments. The prepackaged news stories are
distributed to local television news stations and are designed to
resemble actual news stories. By eliminating the costs and effort
of producing an original news story, agencies can find news
stations willing to broadcast a favorable news segment on a
desired topic. GAO examined prepackaged news stories produced by
the Department of Health and Human Services and the Office of
National Drug Control Policy and evaluated whether these
materials constituted covert propaganda in violation of the
prohibition on using appropriated funds for publicity and
propaganda not authorized by Congress.
-------------------------Indexing Terms-------------------------
REPORTNUM: GAO-05-643T
ACCNO: A24021
TITLE: Video News Releases: Unattributed Prepackaged News
Stories Violate Publicity or Propaganda Prohibition
DATE: 05/12/2005
SUBJECT: Accountability
Appropriated funds
Government information dissemination
Legal opinions
National policies
Public relations
Public television broadcasting
Television broadcasting
Government publications
Propaganda
******************************************************************
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GAO-05-643T
United States Government Accountability Office
GAO Testimony Before the Committee on Commerce, Science, and
Transportation, U.S. Senate
For Release on Delivery
Expected at 10:00 a.m. EDT VIDEO NEWS RELEASES
Thursday, May 12, 2005
Unattributed Prepackaged News Stories Violate Publicity or Propaganda
Prohibition
Statement of Susan A. Poling, Managing Associate General Counsel, Office of
General Counsel
GAO-05-643T
[IMG]
May 12, 2005
VIDEO NEWS RELEASES
Unattributed Prepackaged News Stories Violate Publicity and Propaganda
Prohibition
What GAO Found
Prepackaged news stories are complete, audio-video presentations that may
be included in video news releases, or VNRs. 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 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." GAO has long interpreted this provision to
prohibit agencies from, among other things, producing materials that are
covert as to origin. Our opinions have emphasized that the critical
element of covert propaganda is concealment of the government's role in
producing the materials. Agencies have violated this law when they used
appropriated funds to produce articles and op-ed pieces that were the
ostensible position of persons not associated with the government.
In two legal opinions this past year, federal 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. 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 audience 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. GAO concluded that those
prepackaged news stories violated the publicity or propaganda prohibition.
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.
In addition to these opinions, the Comptroller General issued a circular
letter to the heads of all cabinet departments and federal agencies in
February to alert them to our opinions on VNRs and to remind them of their
duty to disclose the source of materials that they disseminate to the
public.
United States Government Accountability Office
Chairman Stevens and Members of the Committee:
Thank you for the opportunity to be here today to discuss the legal
opinions recently issued by the Government Accountability Office (GAO)
regarding the use of prepackaged news stories by federal agencies. In the
past year, GAO has issued two legal opinions on the production of video
news releases (VNRs) that included prepackaged news stories by both the
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Office of National
Drug Control Policy (ONDCP). In both of these instances, we concluded that
the agencies violated the federal governmentwide prohibition on the use of
appropriated funds for purposes of publicity or propaganda not authorized
by Congress. In addition, in February, the Comptroller General sent a
circular letter to the heads of all federal agencies to alert them to our
recent opinions and to remind them of the prohibition on publicity or
propaganda.
Background Since the 1990s, VNRs have become a popular public relations
tool for private corporations, nonprofit organizations, and government
entities to disseminate information, in part because they provide a
cheaper alternative than more traditional broadcast advertising and are
welcomed by some local news stations in smaller markets with significant
budget restraints.
VNRs Contain Slates,
B-Rolls, and Prepackaged News Stories
While the use of VNRs is widespread and widely known by those in the media
industry, the quality and content of materials considered to constitute a
VNR can vary greatly. Generally, a VNR package may contain several items,
including a series of video clips, known as B-roll footage; title cards
containing relevant information, known as slates; a prepackaged news
story, sometimes referred to as a story package; and other promotional
materials.1 These materials are produced in the same manner as television
news organizations produce materials for their own news segments. By
eliminating a news station's production efforts and costs of producing an
original news story, VNR creators can find stations willing to broadcast a
favorable news segment on a desired topic.
1For example, the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) video
news releases that we examined contained television advertisements and
public service announcements.
The B-roll footage and slates are intended to assist news stations in
producing their own news stories, while the story package is a
preassembled, ready-to-air news story that is often accompanied by a
suggested lead-in script for the anchor. Even if a broadcaster does not
use a story package or scripted materials in full, the production of a
professionally complete news story provides a framework for the message
conveyed in the final broadcast, which allows the producer, in this case,
the federal agency, to assert some control over the message conveyed to
the target audience--the viewer of the broadcast.
The popularity of VNRs may be attributed to the ease with which the
materials may be distributed. While some packages are distributed directly
from the source to television stations, satellite and electronic news
services, such as those provided by CNN Newsource, facilitate distribution
to a number of news markets in a short period of time. Broadcast stations
subscribe to these services, which provide journalist reports and stories
and advertising, in addition to VNR materials. While the news services
label VNRs differently than independent journalist news reports, there
apparently is no industry standard as to the labeling of VNRs. In fact,
some news organizations that broadcast the HHS VNR indicated that they
misread the label or they mistook the story package as an independent
journalist news story on CNN Newsource.
HHS VNRs Included Narration by Contractors Posing as Reporters
GAO examined three VNR packages that HHS made available to local news
organizations. The VNRs consisted of three videotapes with corresponding,
printed scripts; two of the videotapes were in English, and one was in
Spanish. The B-roll footage on each of the English videotapes was exactly
the same and contained footage of President Bush, in the presence of
Members of Congress and others, signing the Medicare prescription drug
legislation into law, and a series of clips of seniors engaged in various
leisure and health-related activities, including consulting with a
pharmacist and being screened for blood pressure. The English videotapes
also included clips of former HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson and Leslie
Norwalk, Deputy Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid
Services (CMS), making statements regarding changes to Medicare. The
Spanish videotape includes clips of statements by Dr. Cristina Beato of
CMS, instead of Thompson and Norwalk.
The two English VNRs contained different story packages, each narrated by
Karen Ryan, an HHS subcontractor, who was not affiliated with a news
organization. The first story package focused on CMS's advertising
campaign regarding the prescription drug legislation. The suggested anchor
lead-in stated that "the Federal Government is launching a new, nationwide
campaign to educate 41 million people with Medicare about improvements to
Medicare." The lead-in ended with "Karen Ryan explains." The video portion
of the story package began with an excerpt of the television advertisement
with audio stating, "it's the same Medicare you've always counted on plus
more benefits." Karen Ryan then explained, "That's the main message
Medicare's advertising campaign drives home about the law." As more clips
from the advertisement appeared, Karen Ryan continued her narration,
indicating that the campaign helps beneficiaries answer their questions
about the new law, the administration is emphasizing that seniors can keep
their Medicare the same, and the campaign is part of a larger effort to
educate people with Medicare about the new law. The story package ended
with Karen Ryan stating: "In Washington, I'm Karen Ryan reporting."
The second English story package focused on various provisions of the new
prescription drug benefit and did not mention the advertising campaign.
The anchor lead-in stated: "In December, President Bush signed into law
the first ever prescription drug benefit for people with Medicare." The
anchor lead-in then noted, "There have been a lot of questions about" the
new law and its changes to Medicare and "Karen Ryan helps sort through the
details." The video portion of the news report started with footage of
President Bush signing the legislation, and Karen Ryan's narration
indicated that when it was "signed into law last month, millions of people
who are covered by Medicare began asking how it will help them." Next, the
segment included footage of Tommy Thompson, in which he states that "it
will be the same Medicare system but with new benefits." Karen Ryan
continued her narration, stating "most of the attention has focused on the
new prescription drug benefit . . . all people with Medicare will be able
to get coverage that will lower their prescription drug spending . . .
Medicare will offer some immediate help through a discount card." She also
told viewers that new preventive benefits will be available, low-income
individuals may qualify for a $600 credit on available drug discount
cards, and "Medicare officials emphasize that no one will be forced to
sign up for any of the new benefits." Karen Ryan's narration then led into
clips of Thompson and Norwalk explaining other beneficial provisions of
the new law. The second story package also ended with, "In Washington, I'm
Karen Ryan reporting."
The Spanish-language materials contained the same three items as the
English language VNRs-a B-roll, slates, and a story package. After the
B-roll segments, the story package segment appeared. This segment was
considerably longer than its two English counterparts, focused on
prescription drug benefits, and was narrated by Alberto Garcia, who is
also an HHS subcontractor, not a reporter. The anchor lead-in was similar
to the second English story package, except the anchor indicates that
Alberto Garcia "helps sort through the details." The video segment began
with the footage of President Bush signing the prescription drug bill into
law, as Alberto Garcia narrated that after signing the law, millions of
people who are covered by Medicare began asking how the new law will help
them. The remainder of the story package contained footage of Dr. Beato
and of seniors engaged in various activities. During the video clips of
seniors, Alberto Garcia narrated that the prescription drug benefit will
be available in 2006 and that drug discount cards will be available in
June 2004 and that "[p]eople with Medicare may be able to choose from
several different drug discount cards, offering up to 25 percent savings
on certain medications." Alberto Garcia concluded his report, stating: "In
Washington, I'm Alberto Garcia reporting."
ONDCP Prepackaged News Stories Were Narrated by Contractors Unaffiliated
with News Organizations
For the ONDCP legal opinion, GAO examined eight VNRs, seven of which
included prepackaged news stories, in addition to B-roll footage and
slates. Each of ONDCP's news stories included narration by an unseen
person, identified as Mike Morris, Karen Ryan, or Jerry Corsini. The
narrator explained that he or she was "reporting" on various ONDCP
activities and on various issues related to the use of marijuana by
teenagers. Each story was accompanied by proposed "lead-in" and "closing"
remarks to be spoken by station news anchors. Many of the suggested anchor
remarks included a phrase like, "Mike Morris has the story," or "Mike
Morris has more." ONDCP informed us that the narrators were hired to read
the scripts for the prepackaged new stories, as prepared for and approved
by ONDCP. Like the HHS VNR narrators, none of these narrators were
affiliated with any news organization at the time the stories were
produced or distributed.
The various ONDCP story packages touched on the addictive nature of
marijuana, the risks of marijuana use to teenagers, an open letter to
parents that was sponsored by ONDCP regarding marijuana, the increased use
of marijuana by teenagers during the summer, the dangers of driving a
vehicle while under the influence of marijuana, and the respiratory health
risks of smoking marijuana. Most of the story packages featured statements
by ONDCP Director John Walters and/or various drug experts.
GAO's Legal Opinions
The suggested anchor closing remarks directed viewers to an anti-drug
website and a toll-free telephone number.
In May 2004, GAO first addressed the use of prepackaged news stories in an
opinion2 issued to HHS regarding VNRs it had prepared as part of a
campaign to inform Medicare recipients about the new prescription drug
legislation.3 In a subsequent opinion issued in January 2005, we addressed
the VNRs produced by ONDCP as part of its National Youth Anti-Drug Media
Campaign.4
Agency's Right to Disseminate Information Does Not Include Covert
Propaganda
In both of these legal opinions, we concluded that production and
distribution of prepackaged news stories that concealed the agency's role
in producing the story violate the publicity and propaganda prohibition.
While GAO has long recognized that agencies have a right to inform the
public about their activities and to defend the administration's point of
view on policy matters,5 there are several statutory limitations on an
agency's information dissemination, one of which is the publicity or
propaganda prohibition. This prohibition, the first version of which was
enacted in 1951, is usually contained in annual appropriations acts. It
states that, "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."6
In applying this prohibition, GAO affords agencies a great deal of
discretion in their informational activities. However, GAO has, through 50
years of decisions, identified a number of specific activities that are
barred by the publicity and propaganda prohibition. One of the main
targets of this prohibition is agency-produced material that is covert as
to source.
2In addition to auditing and evaluating programs and activities of the
federal government and investigating matters related to the use of public
money, GAO is also responsible for settling all accounts of the federal
government. 31 U.S.C. S:S: 712, 717, 3526. Pursuant to this accounts
settlement authority, the Comptroller General issues legal decisions and
opinions to federal agencies and Members of Congress regarding the proper
use of federal funds.
3B-302710, May 19, 2004.
4B-303495, Jan. 4, 2005.
5See, e.g., B-304715, Apr. 27, 2005; B-302504, Mar. 10, 2004; B-184648,
Dec. 3, 1975.
6See, e.g., Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2005, Pub. L. No. 108-447,
div. H, title VI, S: 624, 118 Stat. 2809, 3278 (Dec. 8, 2004).
Our opinions have emphasized that the critical element of covert
propaganda is concealment of the government's role in producing the
materials.7 GAO has concluded that agencies have violated the law when
they undertook activities such as distributing suggested editorials to
newspapers or hiring pundits to write commentaries without acknowledging
the government's sponsorship.8 In these cases, even though the newspapers
that printed the opinion pieces may have been aware of their source, the
newspaper readers did not know of the agency's role in producing the
materials.
Unattributed Prepackaged News Stories Violate Publicity and Propaganda
Prohibition
Similarly, in the case of the story packages produced by HHS and ONDCP,
the target audience--the viewing public--was unaware that the material was
produced by the government. The story packages were clearly designed to be
aired exactly as the agency produced them and were intended to resemble
traditional news stories. They were narrated by government contract
personnel who portrayed reporters and included suggested anchor lead-in
scripts, announcing it as a news story by the purported reporter, which
facilitated the unaltered use of the story package.
Most importantly, the story packages contained no statement or other
reference to alert television viewers to the fact that the agency was the
source of the purported news story. These characteristics may lead viewers
to believe, wrongly, that the piece was an actual news story produced by
the local television station and narrated by a real reporter. Therefore,
we concluded that the prepackaged news stories constituted covert
propaganda and that HHS and ONDCP both violated the prohibition on the use
of appropriated funds for publicity or propaganda.9 Furthermore, because
the agencies had no appropriation available for
7B-229257, June 10, 1988.
8See, e.g., B-223098, Oct. 10, 1986; B-229069, Sept. 30, 1987.
9Although both HHS and ONDCP pointed to specific statutory provisions that
authorized them to disseminate information to the public, GAO concluded
that such provisions did not authorize them to produce unattributed news
stories. In both opinions, GAO also concluded that the B-roll footage and
the slates did not violate the publicity and propaganda prohibition
because they were designed to be viewed and utilized solely by the news
organizations, and the agencies had properly disclosed their role in the
production of the materials to the stations.
covert propaganda, HHS and ONDCP also violated the Antideficiency Act,
which prohibits obligations in excess of available budget authority.10
In both of these opinions, we also noted:"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 unbeknownst to the receiving audience." In fact, the appropriations
prohibition is not the only marker that Congress has enacted to delineate
the boundaries between the government and the free American press.11
Statutory limits on the domestic dissemination of news reports produced by
the federal government 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 appearance of, an attempt to
control public opinion.12
HHS and ONDCP both 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.
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 therefore
concluded that those prepackaged news stories violated the publicity or
propaganda prohibition.
Circular Letter Advised All In addition to the HHS and ONDCP opinions, the
Comptroller General Agencies of Duty to issued a circular letter to the
heads of all cabinet departments and federal Disclose Source of agencies
in February of this year to alert agencies to our opinions on Materials
prepackaged news stories and to remind them of their duty to disclose the
source of materials that they disseminate to the public.13 GAO decided
that
a governmentwide circular would be appropriate given the increasing use
1031 U.S.C. S: 1341(a).
11See, e.g., 22 U.S.C. S:S: 1461, 1461-1a (restricting the domestic
dissemination of news reports originally created by the government for
broadcast abroad).
12B-118654-O.M., Apr. 17, 1979.
13B-304272, Feb. 17, 2005.
GAO Contacts And Staff Acknowledgments
(976524)
of VNRs by the federal government. In fact, our research showed that VNRs
have been produced by a wide range of federal departments and agencies,
from the Department of State to the Census Bureau to the Transportation
Security Administration.
Mr. Chairman, this concludes my prepared statement. I would be happy to
respond to any questions regarding our opinions that you or the committee
may have.
For further information about this testimony, please contact Susan A.
Poling, at 202-512-2667 or at [email protected]. Other key contributors to
this statement were Thomas Armstrong, Jeffrey McDermott, Neill
Martin-Rolsky, and Sheila Rajabiun.
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