New Drug Program: Reporting Live, Outside Credibility

[Guest guest]

Reporting Live, Outside Credibility

NY TIMES

Published: March 20, 2004

 

In a foolhardy obsession, the Bush administration continues to insist that a

woman it used to portray a television reporter is actually a freelance

journalist, not an actor. The woman appears in free videos distributed to local

TV stations by the Health and Human Services Department. The videos, which many

stations used, are plugs for the controversial new drug program the White House

is selling to elderly voters. But the videos pretend to be balanced news

accounts, and even end with a facsimile of the tag line delivered by real

reporters. " In Washington, I'm Karen Ryan reporting. "

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/20/opinion/20SAT4.html?th

 

The government insists that Ms. Ryan is the real deal. The Columbia Journalism

Review, which put some actual reporters on the case, showed otherwise. Ms. Ryan

turns out to be a public relations specialist who in this case was hired to

portray a stand-up reporter presenting the Medicare plan as objective news. By

her account, she once worked as a TV journalist. But her specialty, the review

says, is this sort of faux news report.

 

No one should look down on either craft, acting or reporting, but the

government is foolish not to honor the distinction. An angry health agency

spokesman, Bill Pierce, says video handouts have been around for years. He also

suggests that it's up to the news media whether to accept or reject them.

Credibility is indeed at the heart of the matter ­ not only for the media, but

also for an administration intent on spinning its way toward November