Apr. 18, 2005 - 19:55 MDT

EDITORIAL

They usually are in the middle of the paper or toward the back. Many folk don't read them. Sometimes editorials are headlined in big type and sometimes they crouch in a corner, dimmed by their big brothers and sisters. Such is the one in this morning's Rocky Mountain News, way down at the bottom with slightly "bold" headline. In full:

Full disclosure on government "news"

"In a belated response to the Bush administration's use of deceptive video news releases, the Federal Communications Commission has warned broadcasters that if they use VNRs they must specify the origin."

"This is Journalism 101 -- and also part of the code of ethics of the professional association of TV and radio news directors -- but even so some broadcast outlets were culpable in spreading administration propaganda under the guise of news."

"Propaganda" is not our word, although in this case it's accurate. The Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, has repeatedly ruled that much of the administration's use of video news releases is propaganda and thus illegal."

"What is dismaying is that some broadcast outlets knew of the video's government origins yet failed to say so, and others, more egregiously, used voiceovers from their own people to make the footage appear as if it were locally produced, A CLEAR CASE OF DELIBERATE DECEPTION."

"GAO chief David Walker said of the administration, but it also applies to broadcasters, "This is not just a legal issue, it's also an ethical matter. The taxpayers have a right to know when the government is trying to influence them with their own money."

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

So, according to the experts, it is illegal and unethical. Why the heck has no one who instigated this stuff been sent up the river ? It's bad, it stinks and what worries me is what will the Eebil Empire try next ? ? ? ?

In a few words the Editor laid it on the line I think, in a very few words but a very powerful EDITORIAL . . . . . .

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