DLR'sCock
03-12-2005, 11:54 AM
Calif. Gov. 'News' Videos Cause a Stir
The Associated Press
Friday 11 March 2005
Sacramento - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration has acknowledged making several videos masquerading as news stories to promote its agenda, creating an uproar from Democrats and labor leaders in a controversy parallel to one ignited by the Bush administration.
"When the governor produces official government propaganda and tries to fake it to look like news it's very, very corrosive to democratic values," said Barry Broad, a labor lobbyist who compared it to efforts by totalitarian regimes.
Criticism initially focused on a video promoting labor regulations altering workers' meal breaks. But the administration later said it made videos on Schwarzenegger's efforts to reshape state government, stall rules that would increase nurse staffing at hospitals and alter teacher pay and tenure requirements, said aides to Sen. Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles.
Critics said the tailored-for-TV-news videos amount to taxpayer-funded campaign propaganda.
Last year, the federal Government Accountability Office said the Bush administration violated a prohibition against using public money for propaganda when it created videos made to resemble news reports promoting Medicare changes.
Deputy Legislative Counsel Cecilia Moddelmog told a Senate budget subcommittee Thursday that she doubted the Schwarzenegger administration had the authority to produce the videos.
The videos included suggested opening remarks for a news anchor, a narrative by a state employee and interviews with supporters of the administration policies. It's not evident to viewers who produced them and no opposition is expressed.
"In essence, those are all mock news stories," Romero said.
Administration officials said the videos were news releases and lawyers considered them legal. The administration said only portions of the videos were broadcast, but two stations identified by officials denied using the material.
Sen. John Campbell of Irvine, an ally of the governor and fellow Republican, said the Legislature produces its own video releases.
"This whole thing is like a charade," he said. "Every one of us does a lot of propaganda on lots of things every day."
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Karen Hughes To Work on The World's View of U.S.
By Peter Baker
The Washington Post
Saturday 12 March 2005
Former White House counselor Karen P. Hughes will take over the Bush administration's troubled public diplomacy effort intended to burnish the U.S. image abroad, particularly in the Muslim world, where anti-Americanism has fueled extremist groups and terrorism, a senior administration official said yesterday.
Hughes, 48, who has been one of President Bush's closest advisers since his tenure as Texas governor, plans to return to Washington soon to rejoin the president's team after a three-year absence and set up shop at the State Department, where she will work with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to reinvigorate the campaign for hearts and minds overseas.
Hughes will take over an operation that has been criticized as lackluster by many analysts and, privately, even by some administration officials, despite its mission of waging a war of ideas against Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda and other Islamic extremist organizations. The last undersecretary for public diplomacy, Margaret Tutwiler, left last summer after less than a year on the job. The post has remained vacant since.
Tutwiler was at the White House yesterday and has been advising Hughes about the job. Hughes, who left her White House job in the summer of 2002 to return to Texas with her family, did not return telephone or e-mail messages.
Through exchange programs, foreign language media and other initiatives, the public diplomacy campaign aims to promote American values of democracy, tolerance and pluralism abroad while combating negative images propagated in many parts of the world. The State Department spent $685 million on public diplomacy in 2004, but critics complain that it has not been increased enough since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and that most of it has not targeted the Muslim world.
The Associated Press
Friday 11 March 2005
Sacramento - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration has acknowledged making several videos masquerading as news stories to promote its agenda, creating an uproar from Democrats and labor leaders in a controversy parallel to one ignited by the Bush administration.
"When the governor produces official government propaganda and tries to fake it to look like news it's very, very corrosive to democratic values," said Barry Broad, a labor lobbyist who compared it to efforts by totalitarian regimes.
Criticism initially focused on a video promoting labor regulations altering workers' meal breaks. But the administration later said it made videos on Schwarzenegger's efforts to reshape state government, stall rules that would increase nurse staffing at hospitals and alter teacher pay and tenure requirements, said aides to Sen. Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles.
Critics said the tailored-for-TV-news videos amount to taxpayer-funded campaign propaganda.
Last year, the federal Government Accountability Office said the Bush administration violated a prohibition against using public money for propaganda when it created videos made to resemble news reports promoting Medicare changes.
Deputy Legislative Counsel Cecilia Moddelmog told a Senate budget subcommittee Thursday that she doubted the Schwarzenegger administration had the authority to produce the videos.
The videos included suggested opening remarks for a news anchor, a narrative by a state employee and interviews with supporters of the administration policies. It's not evident to viewers who produced them and no opposition is expressed.
"In essence, those are all mock news stories," Romero said.
Administration officials said the videos were news releases and lawyers considered them legal. The administration said only portions of the videos were broadcast, but two stations identified by officials denied using the material.
Sen. John Campbell of Irvine, an ally of the governor and fellow Republican, said the Legislature produces its own video releases.
"This whole thing is like a charade," he said. "Every one of us does a lot of propaganda on lots of things every day."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Go to Original
Karen Hughes To Work on The World's View of U.S.
By Peter Baker
The Washington Post
Saturday 12 March 2005
Former White House counselor Karen P. Hughes will take over the Bush administration's troubled public diplomacy effort intended to burnish the U.S. image abroad, particularly in the Muslim world, where anti-Americanism has fueled extremist groups and terrorism, a senior administration official said yesterday.
Hughes, 48, who has been one of President Bush's closest advisers since his tenure as Texas governor, plans to return to Washington soon to rejoin the president's team after a three-year absence and set up shop at the State Department, where she will work with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to reinvigorate the campaign for hearts and minds overseas.
Hughes will take over an operation that has been criticized as lackluster by many analysts and, privately, even by some administration officials, despite its mission of waging a war of ideas against Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda and other Islamic extremist organizations. The last undersecretary for public diplomacy, Margaret Tutwiler, left last summer after less than a year on the job. The post has remained vacant since.
Tutwiler was at the White House yesterday and has been advising Hughes about the job. Hughes, who left her White House job in the summer of 2002 to return to Texas with her family, did not return telephone or e-mail messages.
Through exchange programs, foreign language media and other initiatives, the public diplomacy campaign aims to promote American values of democracy, tolerance and pluralism abroad while combating negative images propagated in many parts of the world. The State Department spent $685 million on public diplomacy in 2004, but critics complain that it has not been increased enough since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and that most of it has not targeted the Muslim world.