Video News Releases
Unattributed Prepackaged News Stories Violate Publicity or Propaganda Prohibition Gao ID: GAO-05-643T May 12, 2005In 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.
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.
GAO-05-643T, Video News Releases: Unattributed Prepackaged News Stories Violate Publicity or Propaganda Prohibition
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Testimony Before the Committee on Commerce, Science, and
Transportation, U.S. Senate:
United States Government Accountability Office:
GAO:
For Release on Delivery Expected at 10:00 a.m. EDT:
Thursday, May 12, 2005:
Video News Releases:
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:
GAO Highlights:
Highlights of GAO-05-643T, a report to Senate Committee on Commerce,
Science, and Transportation:
Why GAO Did This Study:
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.
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.
www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-05-643T.
To view the full product, including the scope and methodology, click on
the link above. For more information, contact Jeffrey McDermott at
(202) 512-2584 or mcdermottj@gao.gov.
[End of section]
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.[Footnote 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.
The B-roll footage and slates are intended to assist news stations in
producing their own news stories, while the story package is a pre-
assembled, 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.
The suggested anchor closing remarks directed viewers to an anti-drug
website and a toll-free telephone number.
GAO's Legal Opinions:
In May 2004, GAO first addressed the use of prepackaged news stories in
an opinion[Footnote 2] issued to HHS regarding VNRs it had prepared as
part of a campaign to inform Medicare recipients about the new
prescription drug legislation.[Footnote 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.[Footnote 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,[Footnote 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."[Footnote 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. Our opinions have emphasized that the critical element of
covert propaganda is concealment of the government's role in producing
the materials.[Footnote 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.[Footnote 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.[Footnote 9] Furthermore, because the agencies had no
appropriation available for covert propaganda, HHS and ONDCP also
violated the Antideficiency Act, which prohibits obligations in excess
of available budget authority.[Footnote 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.[Footnote 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.[Footnote 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 Agencies of Duty to Disclose Source of
Materials:
In addition to the HHS and ONDCP opinions, the Comptroller General
issued a circular letter to the heads of all cabinet departments and
federal agencies in February of this year to alert agencies to our
opinions on prepackaged news stories and to remind them of their duty
to disclose the source of materials that they disseminate to the
public.[Footnote 13] GAO decided that a governmentwide circular would
be appropriate given the increasing use 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.
GAO Contacts And Staff Acknowledgments:
For further information about this testimony, please contact Susan A.
Poling, at 202-512-2667 or at polings@gao.gov. Other key contributors
to this statement were Thomas Armstrong, Jeffrey McDermott, Neill
Martin-Rolsky, and Sheila Rajabiun.
FOOTNOTES
[1] For example, the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP)
video news releases that we examined contained television
advertisements and public service announcements.
[2] In 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. §§ 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.
[3] B-302710, May 19, 2004.
[4] B-303495, Jan. 4, 2005.
[5] See, e.g., B-304715, Apr. 27, 2005; B-302504, Mar. 10, 2004; B-
184648, Dec. 3, 1975.
[6] See, e.g., Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2005, Pub. L. No. 108-
447, div. H, title VI, § 624, 118 Stat. 2809, 3278 (Dec. 8, 2004).
[7] B-229257, June 10, 1988.
[8] See, e.g., B-223098, Oct. 10, 1986; B-229069, Sept. 30, 1987.
[9] Although 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.
[10] 31 U.S.C. § 1341(a).
[11] See, e.g., 22 U.S.C. §§ 1461, 1461-1a (restricting the domestic
dissemination of news reports originally created by the government for
broadcast abroad).
[12] B-118654-O.M., Apr. 17, 1979.
[13] B-304272, Feb. 17, 2005.
