NEWS: Federal Agencies Warned About Use of Propaganda Videos

The Government Accountability Office issued a letter to Federal Agencies this week, stating their concerns about "prepackaged" news stories being released to the media. GAO Comptroller, General David M. Walker cited two instances that violated the 1951 act against the use of appropriated funds for propaganda.



Propaganda can always be expected during a period of war, but it seems that these instances related to hyping Government civic programs and that has to leave you wondering what part of the news can we believe?

[edit on 19-2-2005 by mythatsabigprobe]

[edit on 19-2-2005 by mythatsabigprobe]

I tell you what, I have stop watching the way I used to, I can actually sit now and spend my time with a nice book, background music and not TV.

Right now if you tune in a news channel you noticed how they drill you on the same news and videos over and over during the day, to the point that certain parts of it just get stuck on your mind and repeats over and over again.

Sometimes is hard to distinguish what is real and what is sensationalism.

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The GAO has found this administration guilty of using our tax dollars for "covert propaganda" on numerous occasions - not just with these videos.

It is illegal to use tax dollars for "covert propaganda," no question about it.

My questions: Why aren't charges being laid? Why is no one being held legally accountable?

These laws are here to protect our democracy. If they are not enforced, our democracy is a farce.



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Originally posted by soficrow


These laws are here to protect our democracy. If they are not enforced, our democracy is a farce.

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it turns out the emperor likes to be naked, and is PRETENDING he doesn't know he has no clothes.

We have machines that control our electoral process, the source ocdes for which are beyond scrutiny due to the propietary protection laws and have been supplied by companies that openly support one party, and we have the media which has been consolidated and taken over by coporate interests, now we have our government pushing legislation that blatantly violate our rights to privacy. We have leaders which bold face lie to their constituents, lies and propoganda which have led us to fight preemptive wars on foriegn shores, and have cost thousands upon thousands of lives. Yes, the illusion of true democracy is fading fast. This was never a democracy to begin with, it was a republic, and republics are inherently corrupt in nature. Capitalism was a good idea at first, but when they allowed coporate interests to mandate legislature through lobbyists special interests, that was the beginning of the end of the American dream. They have lost all sense of accountibility, and we have lost all method or desire to oppose what I believe to be an obvious coporate regime. We don't even own our own currency...
We didn't learn a damned thing from WWII.

I urge you all to continue watching, with perhaps a notepad beside you (or an extra good memory) and research everything you see and hear, make up your own mind, Use their weapons against them.

the promotion of government policies through video news releases meant to look like TV news stories

Well, where are some examples of these psuedo-news stories?

What is the definition of "pre-packaged news"? For example, in Los Angeles, a lot of people get their news from the local TV stations. This so-called news is mindnumbingly stupid. Crap like kittens up trees and taxi cabs getting stolen is NOT news. Most of the so-called 'news' people get in America is similarly designed to produce non-questioning idiots.

What kind of federal "video news releases" were shown to us as news stories?

These are the two instances mentioned in the article. You can find the entire article at yahoo.com by following the story link. story.news.yahoo.com.../ap/20050219/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/fake_news

The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy was criticized last year for a series of video news releases in which a narrator, sometimes identified as "Karen Ryan" or "Mike Morris," said she or he was "reporting" on the office's activities. The tapes were sent to local television stations for use in news programs.

In a second case criticized by the GAO last year, the Health and Human Services Department's Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services produced video news releases touting changes to Medicare. Those productions were also narrated by "Karen Ryan" and were offered to local TV news operations.

Edit to add link

[edit on 19-2-2005 by mythatsabigprobe]

In both cases, Walker wrote Thursday, "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."

Okay so you have the news anchor say, "And now to our field reporter, Karen Ryan!" and then they cut to what is a prepared interview of a federal drug enforcement office. The reporter, Karen Ryan may be a real reporter or she may not, but is this really so dangerous? I mean, are we saying that the War on Drugs isn't propagandized in a hundred other more effective ways? Of couse it is. When CITY police officers walk into classrooms and tell the kids to inform on their parents' drug use, you don't think theres collusion on par with Federal government?

I guess this could be a sort of test-balloon to see if anyone in America notices this sort of Federal "news" reporting on themselves. I am sure America will not notice direct propaganda when they have been raised in indirect propaganda all their lives. We can be sure to hear similarly pre-packaged news from other government agencies as the State of America continues its birth. Departments of Transportation, FEMA, Dept of Interior, etc. will show us news programmes so that we feel comfortable with where our tax dollars are being spent. Joe Six-Pack WANTS prepackaged news.

To put it plainly, if you are getting your news from local television, you are doomed to ignorance anyway so where's the problem here?

Well I think the problem is in the deception. Viewers believe they're seeing an unbiased report, researched and presented by a journalist with all the ethics that are supposed to go along with that title. What they're really getting is canned propaganda telling them everything is rosey, your government is working hard for you, happy happy joy joy...

PS: It's also a very good way to keep the media from looking too hard at those departments. News editors won't allow journalists to research topics already covered, it's done and dead.

[edit on 19-2-2005 by mythatsabigprobe]

I dont want TV news anymore... except maybe CNN if it is muted. (loook at the news bar at the bottom). most of my news comes from the net, NPR, or local papers.

Why is it ok to listen to news that promotes the minority but not ok to bash the minority? Most news i see these days is against republicans, because in fact most news moguls are in fact democrats. Why can't the government fire back? Isn't that fair? A good example is the CBS controversy. News made to look real was generated by a corportation to make money. Isn't that the same thing as the government doing except without the profiteering? Every government uses propoganda and censorship to promote their agenda. I.E. "Loose lips sink ships" or even the fact of the South Korean government never mentioned Pres. Clinton giving the North Koreans the materials for nuke plants. Americans should consider themselves luck that the news isn't run by the government. Our media system is so complex that the government cannot control it. Hell most kids who were screaming about their rights and that they need to vote or die during the last election probably had no idea about the two canidiates. The only way I knew about it was a paper i had to write about the two agendas. After researching from both candiates official web sites i found that they were basically running on the same agenda. However if someone only watched the news they would have though that bush was only pro business and that kerry was for/against the war whichever day it was. The problem is that people either watch TV news or they don't get any news. As educated citizens it should be a requirement that we take a test on what the candidates stand for and government policy before we can vote. Hell i wonder how many people know how many Justices there are on the bench at the supreme court or even how a bill is becomes a law. The children of the 70's knew through prgming like school house rock. Nowadays it's more important that kids know about broken familys and how many out of, wedlock kids there are in Hollywood. Prgming is more about interracial couples and lesbian moms. I have nothing against either issue. I have an asian girlfriend and i know many gay parents who are better than regular parents. What i have an issue with is stereotypes of political parties and ignorance of the way the system works. If people don't like the system there is a process to change that. If the process doesn't work, you can either leave the country, deal with the problems of the nation, or rise against the government (that is in the constituion remember? That's the reason for the 2nd amendment so that if a tyrant comes to power you can defend yourself the man with the gun can do a lot more that a man with a pen when push comes to shove)

CAConrad0825, Use your brain. You can't seriously be telling us that you don't mind the government telling you what to think about the government. Use a bit of the grey matter; If it was democrats in power doing the same thing do you seriously think you'd have the same opinion?

Some things transcend politics.

Use objective thinking. No one really hates who they think they hate you know. If someone was brought up to religiously think a square was called a circle and all else was sheer lies, they'd defend its roundness till their dying breath. If you'd been born in a majority Muslim country, You'd most likely be a Muslim. If you'd been born in Southern Ireland, you'd probably be a Catholic.

Thinking for yourself involves more than stubborn allegiance to what you think you know.

The problem is too many people are prepared to be told what they think.

If you understood what i said then you would have know that i am not saying it was not ok for them to control what i said. However it happens. That is a fact of government. Also

If it was democrats in power doing the same thing do you seriously think you'd have the same opinion?

yes i would. I am not saying this because i am republican. I do not agree with what the republicans are doing. I'd rather that there is a democratic congress and republican president or vice versa

when you have a unified front they will rubber stamp everything. That's why i don't like the way things are now. The renewal of the patriot act will go through which i do not agree with. I didn't even agree with the war in iraq. I knew that it would become a domino effect like what the Mcarthy's said about the Communists. Also i distrust moderates like bush and clinton they cannot make up their minds. They say whatever they do so that they can get elected.

I use grey matter in all that I do. I also agree that you have the right to say what you say and i have the ability to say what i say....also read what i said in my original post

even the fact of the South Korean government never mentioned Pres. Clinton giving the North Koreans the materials for nuke plants. Americans should consider themselves luck that the news isn't run by the government. Our media system is so complex that the government cannot control it. Hell most kids who were screaming about their rights and that they need to vote or die during the last election probably had no idea about the two canidiates. The only way I knew about it was a paper i had to write about the two agendas. After researching from both candiates official web sites i found that they were basically running on the same agenda. However if someone only watched the news they would have though that bush was only pro business and that kerry was for/against the war whichever day it was. The problem is that people either watch TV news or they don't get any news. As educated citizens it should be a requirement that we take a test on what the candidates stand for and government policy before we can vote. Hell i wonder how many people know how many Justices there are on the bench at the supreme court or even how a bill is becomes a law. The children of the 70's knew through prgming like school house rock. Nowadays it's more important that kids know about broken familys and how many out of, wedlock kids there are in Hollywood. Prgming is more about interracial couples and lesbian moms. I have nothing against either issue. I have an asian girlfriend and i know many gay parents who are better than regular parents. What i have an issue with is stereotypes of political parties and ignorance of the way the system works. If people don't like the system there is a process to change that. If the process doesn't work, you can either leave the country, deal with the problems of the nation, or rise against the government (that is in the constituion remember? That's the reason for the 2nd amendment so that if a tyrant comes to power you can defend yourself the man with the gun can do a lot more that a man with a pen when push comes to shove)