Reply #6: Sign off, Mr. Bush - Faking the news has another, uglier name: Propaganda [View All]

Sign off, Mr. Bush

Faking the news has another, uglier name: Propaganda

As reported in the New York Times, at least 20 government agencies are spending millions each year to produce "reports" that lull undiscerning TV watchers into believing they are seeing real news delivered by real reporters.

But they are not.

Regardless of what the Bush administration (and the Clinton administration before it, the pioneers of the noxious practice) would have you believe, they are propaganda tools produced by public relations firms hired by various federal agencies to promote their policies and programs.

...
Mainstream media in recent years have come under much criticism - plenty of it well-earned - for slackening the principles of objective journalism.

But the fast-evolving government intrusion into the media business gives viewers and readers something else entirely. And it can only come under the heading of "propaganda."