Homestead mailing list

[DSanner106 AT aol.com]

In a message dated 3/14/2005 1:35:56 AM Eastern Standard Time,  
lurine AT softcom.net writes:

excerpt:
Under the Bush administration, the federal  government has
aggressively used a well-established tool of public  relations: the
prepackaged, ready-to-serve news report that major  corporations have
long distributed to TV stations to pitch everything from  headache
remedies to auto insurance. In all, at least 20 federal  agencies,
including the Defense Department and the Census Bureau, have made  and
distributed hundreds of television news segments in the past  four
years, records and interviews show. Many were subsequently  broadcast
on local stations across the country without any acknowledgement  of
the government's role in their production.



Of course, Clinton did the same thing, My Mother and Step Father, both  
worked for the federal government under the Clinton admin as television  
producers. 
They put together all
sorts of pre-packaged releases. My mother was a producer for WTBS and CNN  
before 
taking the government job. My stepfather was transferred to homeland  
security 2 years ago to do the same sort of work. There is absolutely  
nothing wrong 
with the government 
putting together these bits. It was originally conceived as a way to film  
pieces in secure 
areas that the press is not allowed into. The ONLY problem with this is  that 
it is up to the
broadcast agency to identify the pieces and their sources. If a station  does 
not do this, it
could mislead the viewers. 
 
Drew