Bill White – 3/21/05

This page was last updated on March 23, 2005.

Manufactured news; Bill White; Beaver County Times; March 21, 2005.

Mr. White has written anti-Bush letters since at least August 2004.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“More than 20 federal agencies are now creating fake news spots to be shown on TV news. At a cost of $254 million, actors and ad agencies devise propaganda videos disguised as real TV reporting.”

[RWC] I read about this in a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette editorial citing a New York Times story.¹ I didn’t read the source article because it’s on the pay-to-read portion of the NYT web site. As a result, I can’t vouch for the accuracy of the article. We need to remember many NYT “news” articles display an anti-Bush bias. For the purposes of this critique, I’ll assume the situation as described in the P-G editorial is reasonably correct.

“The purpose of this deception is to promote and gain popular support for various White House initiatives, including State and Defense Department agendas. Being honest with the American people is not in the cards of President Bush and his handlers.”

[RWC] Mr. White failed to mention at least one point. The P-G editorial indicated this alleged practice began in the Clinton administration. Does Mr. White believe it was OK for the Clinton administration?

“The White House has sunk to the bottom of the barrel by altering our access to public news. Who is to be trusted anymore? Who can we rely on?”

[RWC] How does this practice alter “our access to public news?”

Another point Mr. White failed to mention is no one forces news outlets to accept these so-called news spots, and no one forces news outlets to run them without appropriate attribution.

In general, I have no problem with the government presenting us with information about its programs. My problems would be 1) if a broadcaster presented the spot as “real” news, and 2) if the news outlet didn’t provide proper attribution.

Regarding “trust,” if Mr. White trusts the likes of ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC, et cetera, he’s got news problems.

“If you do not like looking through rose-colored glasses, call your representative and ask why this practice is not stopped. Independent news must remain independent.”

[RWC] “Independent news?” Independent of whom? Objective reporting is extremely rare, and I bet Mr. White has rarely experienced it.

1. THE MESSAGE MACHINE: How the Government Makes News; Under Bush, a New Age of Prepackaged News; David Barstow and Robin Stein; The New York Times; March 13, 2005.