Fakery, astroturf & all that good stuff
In our increasingly unreal world of reality shows, steroid-driven sports, and Presidential “town meetings” open only to invited and screened supporters, too many things are not what they seem. Recent outbreaks of fakery have revealed the tip of what looks to be an iceberg of deception, and Americans would do well to pay close attention.
Just a couple of months back, the White House was caught having paid almost a quarter-million dollars to columnist and commentator Armstrong Williams for promoting the (still under-funded) “No Child Left Behind” program on his show and in his columns.
And then, of course, we learned about the internet-porn star turned White House “correspondent,” whose cover was blown after two years of being called upon by the President and his press secretary in briefings by a name that wasn’t his.
Last week, the Bush Administration claimed that it is perfectly okay to prepare and supply TV news shows with videos that look and sound like news segments (complete with actors portraying journalists), even though the General Accounting Office — a people’s watchdog in government — had told them it was absolutely illegal.
Part of the crime is using taxpayer (our) money to sell us on an idea or agenda, which is strictly illegal. So Mr. Bush says they’re not promoting a point of view, just presenting facts.
But another part of the illegality rests in hiding the source of the video and/or making it look like a news report. The Administration, which might easily have identified itself in the videos -- “This is the Department of Health and Human Services, and we approve this message?” — somehow failed to do so.
On the contrary, “This is Karen Ryan reporting” was the sign-off by a hired PR consultant in several videos favorable to the Bush Medicare prescription bill last year; these were prepared by the Administration and offered to TV news outlets as “news releases.”
More recently, we learned that Susan Molinari, a frequent guest on political news shows (always introduced as “former Republican Congresswoman”) is actually high up on the payroll of a Washington lobbying firm — the very same one that paid Karen Ryan and Armstrong Williams, with taxpayer (our) money!
Much more subtle is “astroturf” — in this context a word for fake grassroots organizations. According to Wikipedia, “The expression astroturfing is used pejoratively to describe formal public relations projects which deliberately seek to engineer the impression of spontaneous public reactions.” In other words, corporations or other special interest groups disguised as ordinary citizens.
Progress for America, a lobbying organization dedicated to getting rid of Social Security, is presently running ads claiming that the Democrats have “no plan for saving Social Security,” ending with an inviting scroll of the phone number to reach your representatives in Washington so you can tell them to put up or shut up. Yup. Non-partisan. Grass-roots as all get out!
Americans for Jobs, Healthcare and Progressive Values appeared to be a really inclusive liberal organization when it surfaced just before the presidential primaries. It actually consisted of 18 individuals, two corporations and six unions, and had one purpose: to take Howard Dean out of contention. It worked. Not surprisingly, after the primaries were over we learned that there were some Gephardt and Kerry supporters involved.
Letters “to the editor” can be another form of astroturf, a way of disseminating propaganda around the country via local newspapers. These are always from well outside the community, signed by an individual we never heard of or on behalf of some noble-sounding organization — and they rarely deal with local matters.
For example, my local paper has received at least two letters signed by one Latreece Vankinscott, Chief Operating Officer of The Heartland Institute in Chicago, in support of privatization of Social Security because, she says, it would be good for minorities. But a check of their web site reveals that this organization also supports private schools paid for with public vouchers, “market-based approaches to environmental protection,” “deregulation in areas where property rights and markets do a better job than government bureaucracies,” and — get this — cigarette smoking!
Just a couple of months back, the White House was caught having paid almost a quarter-million dollars to columnist and commentator Armstrong Williams for promoting the (still under-funded) “No Child Left Behind” program on his show and in his columns.
And then, of course, we learned about the internet-porn star turned White House “correspondent,” whose cover was blown after two years of being called upon by the President and his press secretary in briefings by a name that wasn’t his.
Last week, the Bush Administration claimed that it is perfectly okay to prepare and supply TV news shows with videos that look and sound like news segments (complete with actors portraying journalists), even though the General Accounting Office — a people’s watchdog in government — had told them it was absolutely illegal.
Part of the crime is using taxpayer (our) money to sell us on an idea or agenda, which is strictly illegal. So Mr. Bush says they’re not promoting a point of view, just presenting facts.
But another part of the illegality rests in hiding the source of the video and/or making it look like a news report. The Administration, which might easily have identified itself in the videos -- “This is the Department of Health and Human Services, and we approve this message?” — somehow failed to do so.
On the contrary, “This is Karen Ryan reporting” was the sign-off by a hired PR consultant in several videos favorable to the Bush Medicare prescription bill last year; these were prepared by the Administration and offered to TV news outlets as “news releases.”
More recently, we learned that Susan Molinari, a frequent guest on political news shows (always introduced as “former Republican Congresswoman”) is actually high up on the payroll of a Washington lobbying firm — the very same one that paid Karen Ryan and Armstrong Williams, with taxpayer (our) money!
Much more subtle is “astroturf” — in this context a word for fake grassroots organizations. According to Wikipedia, “The expression astroturfing is used pejoratively to describe formal public relations projects which deliberately seek to engineer the impression of spontaneous public reactions.” In other words, corporations or other special interest groups disguised as ordinary citizens.
Letters “to the editor” can be another form of astroturf, a way of disseminating propaganda around the country via local newspapers. These are always from well outside the community, signed by an individual we never heard of or on behalf of some noble-sounding organization — and they rarely deal with local matters.
For example, my local paper has received at least two letters signed by one Latreece Vankinscott, Chief Operating Officer of The Heartland Institute in Chicago, in support of privatization of Social Security because, she says, it would be good for minorities. But a check of their web site reveals that this organization also supports private schools paid for with public vouchers, “market-based approaches to environmental protection,” “deregulation in areas where property rights and markets do a better job than government bureaucracies,” and — get this — cigarette smoking!
posted by The Voice | 11:56 AM
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