The Washington Post reports on Prepackaged News. The Bush administration, spent about $1.6 billion over 2.5 years on prepackaged news items to give to media outlets to describe administration programs. It's hard for me to judge if this is spreading propaganda or just publicizing policies. It sounds like a lot. Fortunately I don't have to figure it out, the GAO did.
"Around the same time, a spat erupted between the GAO and the White House over whether the government's practice of feeding TV stations prepackaged, ready-to-air news stories that touted administration policies (but did not disclose the government as the source) amounted to "covert propaganda." The GAO said that it did. The administration disagreed, saying spreading information about federal programs is part of the agencies' mission, and that the burden of disclosure falls on the TV stations. Congress sided with the GAO. Lawmakers inserted a provision into an annual spending bill requiring federal agencies to include "a clear notification" within the text or audio of a prepackaged news story that it was prepared or paid for by the government."
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