<http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/15/politics/15VIDE.html?th>
 
March 15, 2004
U.S. Videos, for TV News, Come Under Scrutiny
By ROBERT PEAR
 
WASHINGTON, March 14 - Federal investigators are scrutinizing television
segments in which the Bush administration paid people to pose as
journalists praising the benefits of the new Medicare law, which would
be offered to help elderly Americans with the costs of their
prescription medicines.
 
The videos are intended for use in local television news programs.
Several include pictures of President Bush receiving a standing ovation
from a crowd cheering as he signed the Medicare law on Dec. 8.
 
The materials were produced by the Department of Health and Human
Services, which called them video news releases, but the source is not
identified. Two videos end with the voice of a woman who says, "In
Washington, I'm Karen Ryan reporting."
 
But the production company, Home Front Communications, said it had hired
her to read a script prepared by the government.
 
Another video, intended for Hispanic audiences, shows a Bush
administration official being interviewed in Spanish by a man who
identifies himself as a reporter named Alberto Garcia.
 
Another segment shows a pharmacist talking to an elderly customer. The
pharmacist says the new law "helps you better afford your medications,"
and the customer says, "It sounds like a good idea." Indeed, the
pharmacist says, "A very good idea."
 
The government also prepared scripts that can be used by news anchors
introducing what the administration describes as a made-for-television
"story package."
 
In one script, the administration suggests that anchors use this
language: "In December, President Bush signed into law the first-ever
prescription drug benefit for people with Medicare. Since then, there
have been a lot of questions about how the law will help older Americans
and people with disabilities. Reporter Karen Ryan helps sort through the
details."
 
The "reporter" then explains the benefits of the new law.
 
Lawyers from the General Accounting Office, an investigative arm of
Congress, discovered the materials last month when they were looking
into the use of federal money to pay for certain fliers and
advertisements that publicize the Medicare law.
 
In a report to Congress last week, the lawyers said those fliers and
advertisements were legal, despite "notable omissions and other
weaknesses." Administration officials said the television news segments
were also a legal, effective way to educate beneficiaries.
 
Gary L. Kepplinger, deputy general counsel of the accounting office,
said, "We are actively considering some follow-up work related to the
materials we received from the Department of Health and Human Services."
 
One question is whether the government might mislead viewers by
concealing the source of the Medicare videos, which have been broadcast
by stations in Oklahoma, Louisiana and other states.
 
Federal law prohibits the use of federal money for "publicity or
propaganda purposes" not authorized by Congress. In the past, the
General Accounting Office has found that federal agencies violated this
restriction when they disseminated editorials and newspaper articles
written by the government or its contractors without identifying the source.
 
Kevin W. Keane, a spokesman for the Department of Health and Human
Services, said there was nothing nefarious about the television
materials, which he said had been distributed to stations nationwide.
Under federal law, he said, the government is required to inform
beneficiaries about changes in Medicare.
 
"The use of video news releases is a common, routine practice in
government and the private sector," Mr. Keane said. "Anyone who has
questions about this practice needs to do some research on modern public
information tools."
 
But Democrats disagreed. "These materials are even more disturbing than
the Medicare flier and advertisements," said Senator Frank R.
Lautenberg, Democrat of New Jersey. "The distribution of these videos is
a covert attempt to manipulate the press."
 
Mr. Lautenberg, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts,
and seven other members of Congress requested the original review by the
accounting office.
 
In the videos and advertisements, the government urges beneficiaries to
call a toll-free telephone number, 1-800-MEDICARE. People who call that
number can obtain recorded information about prescription drug benefits
if they recite the words "Medicare improvement."
 
Documents from the Medicare agency show why the administration is eager
to advertise the benefits of the new law, on radio and television, in
newspapers and on the Internet.
 
"Our consumer research has shown that beneficiaries are confused about
the Medicare Modernization Act and uncertain about what it means for
them," says one document from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid
Services.
 
Other documents suggest the scope of the publicity campaign: $12.6
million for advertising this winter, $18.5 million to publicize drug
discount cards this spring, about $18.5 million this summer, $30 million
for a year of beneficiary education starting this fall and $44 million
starting in the fall of 2005.
 
"Video news releases" have been used for more than a decade.
Pharmaceutical companies have done particularly well with them,
producing news-style health features about the afflictions their drugs
are meant to cure.
 
The videos became more prominent in the late 1980's, as more and more
television stations cut news-gathering budgets and were glad to have
packaged news bits to call their own, even if they were prepared by
corporations seeking to sell products.
 
As such, the videos have drawn criticism from some news media ethicists,
who consider them to be at odds with journalism's mission to verify
independently the claims of corporations and governments.
 
Government agencies have also produced such videos for years, often on
subjects like teenage smoking and the dangers of using steroids. But the
Medicare materials wander into more controversial territory.
 
Bill Kovach, chairman of the Committee of Concerned Journalists,
expressed disbelief that any television stations would present the
Medicare videos as real news segments, considering the current debate
about the merits of the new law.
 
"Those to me are just the next thing to fraud," Mr. Kovach said. "It's
running a paid advertisement in the heart of a news program."
 
Jim Rutenberg contributed reporting for this article.
 
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