what's wrong with a little propaganda?

"There needs to be a nice independent relationship between the White House and the press."
--george w. bush

in the last 4 years the bush administration has spent $254 million in taxpayer money to churn out fake video news releases. the government accountability office (gao) subsequently found these pieces to be "covert propaganda," illegal in this country.

the administration has instructed its officials to ignore the gao, and to continue this method of undermining american values and principles.

What is more, these officials argued, it is the responsibility of television news directors to inform viewers that a segment about the government was in fact written by the government. "Talk to the television stations that ran it without attribution," said William A. Pierce, spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services. "This is not our problem. We can't be held responsible for their actions."