PREPACKAGED NEWS: New GAO report: Bush administration spent $1.6 billion on good press

[DeepModem Mom]

WP: UPDATE: PREPACKAGED NEWS
Tuesday, February 14, 2006; Page A13


Armstrong Williams was paid to promote No Child Left Behind. (AP)

How much is good press worth? To the Bush administration, about $1.6 billion.

That's how much seven federal departments spent from 2003 through the second quarter of 2005 on 343 contracts with public relations firms, advertising agencies, media organizations and individuals, according to a new Government Accountability Office report.

The 154-page report provides the most comprehensive look to date at the scope of federal spending in an area that generated substantial controversy last year. Congressional Democrats asked the GAO to look into federal public relations contracts last spring at the height of the furor over government-sponsored prepackaged news and journalism-for-sale.

Armstrong Williams, the conservative commentator, had been unmasked as a paid administration promoter who received $186,000 from the Education Department to speak favorably about President Bush's No Child Left Behind law in broadcast appearances....

***

The new report reveals that federal public relations spending goes far beyond "video news releases." The contracts covered the waterfront, from a $6.3 million agreement to help the Department of Homeland Security educate Americans about how to respond to terrorist attacks; to a $647,350 contract to assist the Transportation Security Administration in producing video news releases and media tours on the subject of airport security procedures; to a $6,600 contract to train managers at the Bureau of Reclamation in dealing with the media.

"Careful oversight of this spending is essential given the track record of the Bush administration, which has used taxpayer dollars to fund covert propaganda within the United States," Rep. Henry A. Waxman (Calif.), ranking Democrat of the House Government Reform Committee, said in a statement yesterday.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/13/AR2006021301897.html?nav=hcmodule

[aquart]

1. Thieves.

[proud patriot]

2. There are American Children going hungry tonight !

bush is an asshole

[AndyA]

3. And despite all that money, America still thinks Bush, his administration,

and its policies are FAILURES.

The man isn't capable of anything more.

[calimary]

10. Hey, he never did know how to handle money responsibly.

Just look at how "well" he did as a businessman.

[Canuckistanian]

24. Yeah, that was really effective advertising, wasn't it?

Given that he's 30% in the polls, over 70% want out of Iraq and most think the economy is headed for the crapper, he should ask for his money back.

[Dark]

4. So, they spent $1.6 billion on PR? So what?

Was there something about actual reporters being paid that I missed?

Also, your title is misleading. The article only claims $1.6 million.

[DeepModem Mom]

9. THANKS FOR ALERTING ME TO A REALLY BAD TYPO!

I've edited now, and thanks again.

[L. Coyote]

16. "Bush administration ... covert propaganda within the United States," Rep. Henry A. Waxman

[RainDog]

19. so what? it's illegal, that's what.

Video news releases Fleishman-Hillard (and its subcontractors Gourvitz Communications and Harbour Media) produced for ONDCP were found to be in violation of the ban on covert government propaganda.

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Video_news_r...

News propaganda is illegal because we are supposed to make decisions based upon facts...because we are supposed to have a representative govt.


http://mediacitizen.blogspot.com/2006/02/fleecing-and-f...

The GAO report carefully itemizes this administration’s preference for pre-packaged reporting at the expense of real news and information – in a scheme to make U.S. taxpayers pay for their own deception.

The report found that White House public relations spending goes well beyond the practices of any prior administration. The contracts included $2.5 million to present the Army's strategy in the global war on terrorism; $86 million to explain the new Medicare prescription drug benefit in a bilingual ad campaign; and a $6.3 million agreement to help the Department of Homeland Security educate Americans about how to respond to terrorist attacks.

Fixing the Facts

This is not the first we’ve heard about this. Last September, GAO auditors scolded the White House for squandering American tax dollars to hire fake news reporters and unleash a pre-packaged news blitz in advance of the 2004 elections. That GAO report found the White House violated the law by hiring pundit Armstrong Williams to appear before the cameras and tout Bush’s education initiative, the No Child Left Behind Act, while interviewing administration officials on the air.

because otherwise, the govt can lie about reasons to go to war... which is why people are so mad at Pelosi now for saying impeachment is off the table...what does someone have to do in govt. to be held accountable? Oh wait I know. get a blow job.


----
http://www.freepress.net/propaganda/=pentagon

According to Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber, in the run-up to the War in Iraq the Pentagon handed “global strategic communications consultancy” the Rendon Group a multi-million-dollar contract to sell Americans on a preemptive war in Iraq. Both Rendon and the Pentagon have kept steadfastly quiet on exactly what this involved. Seymour Hersh has since reported that Rendon had been hired by the Pentagon’s now-defunct Office of Strategic Influence, to plant news stories – including false ones – in the media. We have yet to uncover which American “journalists” worked with the OSI while it existed, and how much they were paid.

[Jackpine Radical]

33. "Get a blow job" is not sufficient.

Be a Democrat & get a blow job is sufficient.

[CGowen]

25. it's billion not million n/t

[Jackpine Radical]

31. The article says 1.6 BILLION,

not 1.6 MILLION.

Your correction needs correction.

(I dunno about you but I hate it when that happens.)

[TheMadMonk]

36. Actually yes there was.

Um:- "Armstrong Williams, the conservative commentator, had been unmasked as a paid administration promoter who received $186,000 from the Education Department to speak favorably about President Bush's No Child Left Behind law in broadcast appearances...."

[C_U_L8R]

5. That's insane

Seriously insane.

[VP505]

6. Think of how much

real honest to goodness good news that 1.6 billion could have produced had it been invested in well managed programs instead of lies designed to make people THINK they are hearing good news.

[Kurovski]

7. K&R.

Lousy shitburgers. :mad:

[marmar]

8. $1.6 billion to mindf**k us into thinking things aren't as bollocksed up.....

as we know they really are. Will this nightmare ever end?

[TahitiNut]

11. And the Corporate Media gratefully reciprocates, too.

The best media money can buy ... by the best government money can buy.

[TheMadMonk]

38. What is truly frightening is that you are right.

This is exactly the quality of human being you get when you set out to purchase that which should never be for sale.

[L. Coyote]

12. US LIES: Journalist Quit Iraqi Media Project = $96M Propaganda Project

Taxpayer $millions$ buying LIES = Pentagon aimed to control Iraqi media during war

Before you believe ANYTHING AT ALL in the way of Iraq news, read "Assault on Reason" and these:
INSTALLING DEMOCRACY NOW! USG-seized IRAQ media run by defense contractor.

======================
Wednesday, January 14th, 2004
U.S. Journalist Quits Pentagon Iraqi Media Project Calling it U.S. Propaganda
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/01/14/155

Listen LINK

We talk to a longtime TV producer about the massive problems he saw in the new U.S.-funded Iraqi Media Network, which he said became an "irrelevant mouthpiece for Coalition Provisional Authority propaganda, managed news and mediocre programs." The U.S. has awarded a $96 million contract to a U.S. producer of communications equipment, Harris Corp., to create a U.S.-funded national media network in Iraq.

According to the head of Harris Corp, the Iraqi Media Network will have 30 TV and radio transmitters, three broadcast studios, and 12 bureaus around Iraq.

After U.S.-led troops ousted Saddam Hussein's regime in April, the state-run broadcasters were seized. Since then, they have been run by a U.S. defense contractor, Science Applications International Corporation. .........

TRANSCRIPT w/ Amy Goodman ........ longtime TV producer, Don North, about the problems he saw ...

==========================
Your tax $$$ purchased media outlets in Iraq, and bought reporters too - http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x980363#980750
We have to ask,
"To what extent is this happening today and everywhere?"
"To what extent is this happening with other issues too?"

I have been told by major news announcers, "We just read it."
And, worse still, they do not even know who writes it for them!

We have to ask,
"To what extent is news just propaganda and BUSH LIES?"

==========================
Pentagon pays Iraqi papers to print its 'good news' stories
Jamie Wilson in Washington
Thursday December 1, 2005 - The Guardianhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1654661,00.html

Faced with suicide bombings, claims of Iraqi death squads, and kidnappings, the Pentagon has come up with an innovative solution to solving the problems in Iraq: buying good news. Using defence contractors or intermediaries posing as freelance reporters, the military has been paying Iraqi newspapers to publish stories written by a military propaganda unit lauding the US mission.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the articles are translated into Arabic and placed in Baghdad newspapers where they are often presented as unbiased accounts by independent journalists. Records obtained by the newspaper indicate the US has paid to publish dozens of articles since the operation began this year, with headlines such as "Iraqis insist on living despite terrorism" and "more money goes to Iraq's development".

One military official told the LA Times the military has also bought an Iraqi newspaper and taken control of a radio station, ...........

==========================
Pentagon OK's Propaganda for Iraq (and Possibly Elsewhere) - http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x980363#981355
Source: Los Angeles Times, March 4, 2006 - http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-inf
http://www.prwatch.org/node/4517

Declaring it "within our authorities and responsibilities," the top U.S. general in Iraq, George Casey, announced that the Lincoln Group program that covertly places stories written by U.S. troops in Iraqi newspapers will continue. Navy Admiral Scott Van Buskirk is also reviewing the Iraq propaganda program. His review was previously described as finished but not public .....

===========================
The Sword Employs the Pen = "the military's practice of paying journalists"

Center for Media and Democracy » Spin of the Day » Feb 07, 2005

The Sword Employs the Pen - http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x980363#981426
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3260

The Pentagon is investigating "the military's practice of paying journalists to write articles and commentary ... and also looking more broadly at Pentagon activities that might involve inappropriate payments to journalists," writes Associated Press. CNN reported on Pentagon involvement with two news websites, Southeast European Times (focused on the Balkans) and Magharebia (focused on North Africa). Some 50 journalists were paid by the Pentagon through a private contractor, Anteon Corporation, ..........

==============================
Pentagon Paid Reporters for Stories Overseas
February 06, 2005 9:00 AM ET
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000789872

WASHINGTON (AP) The Pentagon’s chief investigator is looking into the military’s practice of paying journalists to write articles and commentary for a Web site aimed at influencing public opinion in the Balkans, officials said Friday.

At the request of Larry Di Rita, chief spokesman for Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, the Pentagon’s inspector general, Joseph Schmitz, is reviewing that case and also looking more broadly at Pentagon activities that might involve inappropriate payments to journalists. ...............

==============================
Covert propaganda >> Instances of covert propaganda - http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Covert_propaganda

MORE: From: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x980430

[DeepModem Mom]

15. Thanks for this info, L. Coyote! nt

[Breeze54]

13. "the Bush administration, which has used taxpayer dollars to fund covert propaganda"

Now we're getting the bill. $1.6 billion!!??!!

What a thief, liar and cheat!!!!

Impeach that bastard!! :grr:

Great find on the article, DeepModem Mom!!

:kick: & Recommended

[peacetalksforall]

14. 6.3 million to tell us how to duct tape our windows? Six.three million.

Maybe six for the duct tape lessons and .3 to tell us about the colors whether we were color blind or not.

I'm sure shirt-off would want to outspend his predecessors.

How can you have any respect for the stupidly, utterly stupidly, spent money?
Who the hell gave that order?

And where is the list of every so-called journalist who got paid?

And how many children died for lack of repsonse during that time.

We've been crapped on, people.

[peekaloo]

17. Freedom isn't free, ya know.

:sarcasm:

[EVDebs]

18. Shouldn't this all be listed under Operation Mockingbird ?

A CIA program that was supposed to have ended but, as you can see, never really did.

[alfredo]

20. Using our tax dollars to do that. That's like whipping a dog

with its own leash.

[Jack Rabbit]

21. Beyond FoxNoise, buying good press is the only way the Bushies can get it

!!

[RainDog]

22. kick n/t

[bbgrunt]

23. kick--....and HOW much funding is given to PBS and NPR? and

these jackholes complain

[ChairmanAgnostic]

27. they complain because of the lack of control

and remember what they did to PBS and NPR. What was the name of that real shit head who gambled on NPR time?

[Alpharetta]

26. That would be paid bloggers too, I bet

trolls and funded rightwing websites.

[neuvocat]

28. No stone unturned.

I am sure that a number of them were paid to be trolls too. Either that or my tinfoil hat is on a bit too tight.

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

29. It's called "FRAUD"!!! When are they going to be charged with it and MISAPPROPRIATION?

When?

By whom?

When?

They committed multiple OBSCENE CRIMES AGAINST THIS NATION!!!!!!

Who is going to hold them to the law? When?

Their actions have led to hundreds of millions of victims.

Who will seek justice for those victimized by these fuckers?

WHEN will those who CAN prosecute on behalf of the victims seek justice?

WHAT court will see that justice is served?

I'm just ASKING.

[L. Coyote]

30. How much would a 3rd world sweat shop of forum worms cost?

:rofl: Imagine a factory of computers and $3 a day workers, outsourcing influencing discussion forums!

[The M Double]

K

& R

[DU GrovelBot]

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[JFN1]

34. Well, now we know for certain

why the MSM has been laying down for Bush - it pays very, very well.

[Spinzonner]

35. Gold Plated Lies in Bulk Quantities don't come cheap

[spanone]

37. it's like your neighbor borrowing your car to run you over.