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Government ‘news’
is really propaganda

THE ISSUE The FCC is ordering TV stations to inform viewers of government-made "news" reports.

THE Bush administration has swatted a softball thrown by Senator Inouye with a dire warning to television stations that they inform viewers about government-produced reports aired in news programs. Many if not most of these continuing reports amount to subtle propaganda that should not be distributed in the first place.

In response to Inouye and other criticism of those videos, the Federal Communications Commission has put TV stations on notice that they must identify the source of the reports or face "appropriate enforcement action," such as fines or jail time. "It's deceptive to the American people if it's not disclosed," President Bush told a group of newspaper editors.

The public-relations tool has been used for years by corporations, was used in the Clinton administration and has been expanded to satisfy the needs of financially strapped TV stations to help fill their news programs. The New York Times reported last month that at least 20 federal agencies, including the Defense Department, have produced hundreds of ready-to-air reports in the past four years.

Inouye, ranking Democrat on the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, wrote a letter to the FCC asking that it "take any remedial measures necessary to prevent station owners from misleading their viewers." He called lack of disclosure "a serious breach of journalistic ethics." That is true, but many breaches have been unwitting.

The Times described "a world where government-produced reports disappear into a maze of satellite transmissions, Web portals, syndicated news programs and network feeds, only to emerge cleansed on the other side as 'independent' journalism."

The Government Accountability Office, an investigative arm of Congress, says the government-produced reports may constitute "covert propaganda," in violation of appropriations laws, even if the origin is made clear to the TV stations. The GAO concluded that federal agencies may not produce such reports "that conceal or do not clearly identify for the ... audience that the agency was the source of those materials."

While some segments include such disclosure -- "I'm Pat O'Leary reporting for the U.S. Department of Agriculture" -- others are not so clear: "In Washington, I'm Karen Ryan reporting." Ryan's government reports were broadcast at least 64 times in the nation's 40 largest TV markets. One segment on White House drug policy was shown on 300 stations reaching 22 million households.

When Ryan, who has a news background, was asked if she would broadcast one of her government reports if she were a local news director, she said, "Absolutely not."

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Congress should shore up
wastewater protection

THE ISSUE A bill to toughen marine pollution standards will be introduced in Congress.

WITH about 2,000 passengers, the population of a cruise ship nearly eclipses that of Lanai and generates hundreds of thousands of gallons of wastewater daily that ships can legally dump anywhere outside a three-nautical-mile boundary from shore.

Since state officials have stubbornly refused to strengthen Hawaii's weak rules on waste discharges, the ocean environment might fare better through federal legislation. That is, if Congress finds the will.

To protect their waters, California, Alaska and Maine have passed laws that prohibit waste discharges near shore. Hawaii has no laws, but relies on a flimsy agreement that allows the industry to regulate itself. If a ship dumps wastewater within a mile of shore, as the Pride of Aloha did Feb. 6, the cruise company merely has to notify health officials about the incident. There is neither independent monitoring, nor penalties.

State lawmakers are considering measures to stiffen controls, but they fall far short of protection. A bill to be introduced in Congress this week will provide better safeguards. It would bar ships carrying more than 250 passengers from releasing any sewage and wastewater within 12 nautical miles of shores and only treated wastes at 12 to 200 nautical miles. Those safeguards would give Hawaiian waters -- upon which our tourist economy depends -- the protection they deserve.

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