[Peace-discuss] Segment from New York Times Article on "Prepackaged News"

[David Green]

Meeting a Need: Rising Budget Pressures, Ready-to-Run
Segments

WCIA is a small station with a big job in central
Illinois. 

Each weekday, WCIA's news department produces a
three-hour morning program, a noon broadcast and three
evening programs. There are plans to add a 9 p.m.
broadcast. The staff, though, has been cut to 37 from
39. "We are doing more with the same," said Jim P.
Gee, the news director. 

Farming is crucial in Mr. Gee's market, yet with so
many demands, he said, "it is hard for us to justify
having a reporter just focusing on agriculture."

To fill the gap, WCIA turned to the Agriculture
Department, which has assembled one of the most
effective public relations operations inside the
federal government. The department has a Broadcast
Media and Technology Center with an annual budget of
$3.2 million that each year produces some 90 "mission
messages" for local stations - mostly feature segments
about the good works of the Agriculture Department.

"I don't want to use the word 'filler,' per se, but
they meet a need we have," Mr. Gee said.

The Agriculture Department's two full-time reporters,
Bob Ellison and Pat O'Leary, travel the country filing
reports, which are vetted by the department's office
of communications before they are distributed via
satellite and mail. Alisa Harrison, who oversees the
communications office, said Mr. Ellison and Mr.
O'Leary provide unbiased, balanced and accurate
coverage. 

"They cover the secretary just like any other
reporter," she said. 

Invariably, though, their segments offer critic-free
accounts of the department's policies and programs. In
one report, Mr. Ellison told of the agency's efforts
to help Florida clean up after several hurricanes. 

''They've done a fantastic job,'' a grateful local
official said in the segment. 

More recently, Mr. Ellison reported that Mike Johanns,
the new agriculture secretary, and the White House
were determined to reopen Japan to American beef
products. Of his new boss, Mr. Ellison reported, ''He
called Bush the best envoy in the world.'' 

WCIA, based in Champaign, has run 26 segments made by
the Agriculture Department over the past three months
alone. Or put another way, WCIA has run 26 reports
that did not cost it anything to produce. 

Mr. Gee, the news director, readily acknowledges that
these accounts are not exactly independent,
tough-minded journalism. But, he added: ''We don't
think they're propaganda. They meet our journalistic
standards. They're informative. They're balanced.'' 

More than a year ago, WCIA asked the Agriculture
Department to record a special sign-off that implies
the segments are the work of WCIA reporters. So, for
example, instead of closing his report with ''I'm Bob
Ellison, reporting for the U.S.D.A.,'' Mr. Ellison
says, ''With the U.S.D.A., I'm Bob Ellison, reporting
for 'The Morning Show.''' 

Mr. Gee said the customized sign-off helped raise
''awareness of the name of our station.'' Could it
give viewers the idea that Mr. Ellison is reporting on
location with the U.S.D.A. for WCIA? ''We think
viewers can make up their own minds,'' Mr. Gee said. 

Ms. Harrison, the Agriculture Department press
secretary, said the WCIA sign-off was an exception.
The general policy, she said, is to make clear in each
segment that the reporter works for the department. In
any event, she added, she did not think there was much
potential for viewer confusion. ''It's pretty clear to
me,'' she said.