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GAO -
Bush Medicare "Propaganda"
FreeMarketNews.com
October 16, 2005
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has reportedly ruled that at least part of a recently produced government video about Medicare violates a government ban on propaganda. The segment in question is a brief news report produced by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) with an accompanying script intended for local TV stations to use as a lead-in. Yet nothing in that script acknowledges that both it and the video were produced by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the agency that oversaw the project.
Anthony Gamboa, GAO general counsel is in The Hill, as saying, "Neither the story packages nor scripts identified [the Department of Health and Human Services] or CMS as the source." The Hill also notes that "the content of the news reports was attributed to individuals purporting to be reporters, but [were] actually hired by an HHS subcontractor."
According to The Hill, "Democrats on Capitol Hill seized quickly on GAO's findings, calling the administration dishonest and deceptive." An HHS spokesperson responded that the segments in question were prepared with separate audio and video tracks, and that individual stations were welcome to "strip out sound and put in voiceover . providing
attribution."
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