VNRs+in+the+GOvernment

Faux, Maybe; Novel, No   The Bush administration is catching hell for its ‘video news releases’ By Byron York

I read an article I found in the Paley Library catalog called “Faux, Maybe: Novel, No”. It starts out talking about a news conference when a reporter asked Bush if it is ethical for the government to spend money on Video News Releases (VNR). The president responded by avoiding the question and only stating that VNRs are legal. VNRs have actually become one of the causes of the president’s critics. Further more the Times published a front-page story about how the Bush administration paid to have VNR’s praising the new Medicare prescription-drug law. Bush explained that they have been used for decades and democrats were outraged. Proof backed up what Bush said but many people do not care that people such as Clinton used VNRs in the past possibly because it went unknown or unimportant to people back then. People did not complain about the Clinton administration and their VNRs because the republican’s never complained. Now that Democrats are complaining about the Bush administration’s VNRs the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) has been investigating and the news has been reporting it. A man who worked for Medialink (a company that makes VNRs) stated that Clinton produced “an enormous number” of VNRs but he sees nothing wrong with it. Moskowitz explains his side by explaining TV news organizations are free to use whatever portion of the VNRs they want to let their viewers see. The government allows journalist for print and TV to disclose the source s of their information and if it is not in the piece, it is not the government’s fault. One thing that is not being talked about is that the government is spending our tax dollars on these VNRs. VNRs have been used by the Bush and Clinton administration and the only difference is that Bush is “catching hell for it”.

__ References __ Faux, Maybe; Novel, No. (2005). //National Review //, 57(6), 26-28. Retrieved from EBSCO//host //.

G ood precis here. It's fascinating to discover the conservative, pro-business side of this issue. Perhaps you can conduct research to learn more about the size of this industry to discover how much money is being spent. More details about Medialink might also be important. Perhaps you can find out arguments by federal agency officials from the National Institutes of Health or other health orgs about why they think VNRs are so important in their public health campaigns. Does the Obama admin use VNRs? Why or why not? GRADE: A