mediacrit.com

There has been mounting criticism of Wal-Mart in recent years. Critics charge they kill off small local businesses, they contribute to urban sprawl, they squeeze suppliers into bankruptcy, they discriminate against female employees, they hire illegal aliens and fire union organizers.

Last January, Wal-Mart fought back with a multi-million-dollar massive public relations blitz, including full-page advertisements in more than 100 newspapers, a new round of television commercials featuring happy blue-vested Wal-Mart workers, and a web site called walmartfacts.com (as an antidote to critical sites such as walmartwatch.com).

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The truly fake news comes in the form of VNRs – video news releases – that are created by special interest groups like corporations and politicized government agencies and then played on TV news. For example, as the New York Times reported in March, more than 20 federal agencies have used taxpayer money to produce hundreds of VNRs promoting Bush administration policies. Such VNRs are most dangerous when they come to our television screens without local television editorial oversight or attribution.

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During the first four years of George W. Bush’s administration, $254 million in taxpayer’s dollars was spent on public relations contracts. They didn’t invent government propaganda, but have taken it to a new level, spending almost double the previous four years under Clinton. A good part of this was for VNRs, sometimes with public relations officials posing as reporters, emanating from at least 20 different agencies, promoting the Bush agenda on issues such as drug enforcement, the Medicare prescription drug law, post-invasion Iraq, military prison guard training, and agriculture programs.

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