SACRAMENTO, CA Governor's news-like video brings backlash Dems,

labor leaders see faults in release about workers' breaks

Sacramento -- A Democratic assemblyman and labor leaders denounced the Schwarzenegger administration Monday for distributing a television news-style video promoting a proposal that critics say could strip workers of their right to lunch breaks.

Schwarzenegger's Labor and Workforce Development Agency spent $1,200 creating what they call a video news release, which features a voice-over and interviews with managers of three different businesses praising the governor's proposal. The release was made available to television news stations throughout California and was used by at least three Bay Area stations earlier this month.

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Orville Schell, dean of the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, said the production continued a trend toward the "hybridization of public relations and news.''

"The intent is to confuse the two,'' he said.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/03/01/BAG0GBIHRU1.DTL

a puppet.