The folks who publish PRWatch.org have named the winners of the 2004 Falsies Awards, "to remember the people and players responsible for polluting our information environment."
The top award goes to the government's video news release promoting the new Medicare reform law at the start of 2004. The VNR ended with the sign-off, "In Washington, I'm Karen Ryan, reporting." But Karen Ryan was paid by a production company hired by a PR firm hired by the government. To the shame of the television news business, the VNR aired on dozens of TV newscasts.
Ryan wasn't done. In October she "reported" on the president's No Child Left Behind law. PRWatch.org says that "a Freedom of Information Act investigation revealed that the U.S. Education Department paid $700,000 to the PR firm to produce two VNRs as well as to rate newspaper coverage according to how favorably reporters described No Child Left Behind."
Ryan and the government deserve the top Falsie award. It was a memorable year for false and misleading news and information.
Posted by schwitz at December 29, 2004 04:47 PMI'm putting together a VNR archive. If you have quality clips of any Bush administration VNR please email me at vnrchive@gmail.com
Posted by: raindog at March 25, 2005 06:05 PM