Por Heces de Christopher

¿Cuánto es buen valor de la prensa? A la administración de Bush, cerca de $1.6 mil millones.

El es cuánto pasaron siete departamentos federales a partir del 2003 a través del segundo trimestre de 2005 en 343 contratos con las firmas de las relaciones públicas, las agencias de publicidad, las organizaciones de los medios y los individuos, según un nuevo informe de la oficina de la responsabilidad del gobierno.

El informe de 154 páginas proporciona la mirada más comprensiva hasta la fecha en el alcance del gasto federal en un área que generó controversia substancial el año pasado. Los demócratas del congreso pidieron el GAO para mirar en contratos federales de las relaciones públicas en la primavera pasada la altura de las noticias y de la periodismo-para-venta preembaladas government-sponsored del excedente del furor.

Armstrong Williams, the conservative commentator, had been unmasked as a paid administration promoter who received $186,000 from the Education Department to speak favorably about President Bush’s No Child Left Behind law in broadcast appearances.

Around the same time, a spat erupted between the GAO and the White House over whether the government’s practice of feeding TV stations prepackaged, ready-to-air news stories that touted administration policies (but did not disclose the government as the source) amounted to “covert propaganda.” The GAO said that it did. The administration disagreed, saying spreading information about federal programs is part of the agencies’ mission, and that the burden of disclosure falls on the TV stations.

Congress sided with the GAO. Lawmakers inserted a provision into an annual spending bill requiring federal agencies to include “a clear notification” within the text or audio of a prepackaged news story that it was prepared or paid for by the government.

The new report reveals that federal public relations spending goes far beyond “video news releases.” The contracts covered the waterfront, from a $6.3 million agreement to help the Department of Homeland Security educate Americans about how to respond to terrorist attacks; to a $647,350 contract to assist the Transportation Security Administration in producing video news releases and media tours on the subject of airport security procedures; to a $6,600 contract to train managers at the Bureau of Reclamation in dealing with the media.

“Careful oversight of this spending is essential given the track record of the Bush administration, which has used taxpayer dollars to fund covert propaganda within the United States,” Rep. Henry A. Waxman (Calif.), ranking Democrat of the House Government Reform Committee, said in a statement yesterday.

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