The Farm 'Report'

"Beef trade with Japan and Canada was on the minds of producers at the annual National Cattlemen's Beef Association convention in San Antonio, Texas," a man's voice intones, as the television news segment opens with a shot of a slowly rotating sign reading "U.S. Premium Beef." The voice continues, "Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns addressed the gathering and afterward took questions from the media."

The two-minute news piece examines trade issues surrounding bovine spongiform encephalopathy, better known as BSE or mad cow disease. Since the December 2003 discovery of a BSE-infected cow in Washington state, Japan has banned U.S. beef. In the Feb. 10, 2005 TV segment, recently appointed Secretary Johanns says he is "anxious to continue the effort [to lobby Japan] and reopen the border."

Beef trade between the United States and Canada has also been restricted -- by the United States, this time -- since the first BSE-infected Canadian cow was discovered in May 2003. The TV segment shows Johanns warning, with regard to U.S.-Canadian negotiations, "If we just tangle trade up in any way that isn't based upon risk analysis and science and all of the things I've talked about, then where's our protection with another country? Devastating trade is devastating to agriculture."

Johanns adds, referring to the beef industry conference attendees, "These folks that, that sat in front of me today are the most remarkable, efficient producers we've ever known on the face of the earth. And they produce and produce, and we need to figure out a way to get their product sold."

The news piece completely ignores some important, basic facts: Mad cow disease is an always-fatal neurodegenerative condition transmitted between animals -- and from animals to humans -- via the food supply. The U.S. government doesn't follow World Health Organization recommendations for avoiding animal-to-human transmission of the disease. Even with limited animal testing, four BSE cases have been confirmed among North American cattle. (Two other BSE-infected Canadian cattle were found in early 2005.) The experience of other countries, especially Britain, suggests how to successfully battle the disease.

Is this shoddy reporting? Worse -- it's "news" that's been scripted, recorded and produced by an interested party, in this case, the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The segment, titled "Johanns Addresses Trade At NCBA Conference," is a fake television news story, or video news release (VNR), produced by the USDA's Broadcast Media & Technology Center (BMTC).

With its $2.8 million annual budget, BMTC is "one of the most effective public relations operations inside the federal government," the New York Times concluded in its March 2005 expos on government VNRs. BMTC's web site resembles a cutting-edge communications firm, advertising full-service digital production facilities and offering services to other government agencies, including video and audio conferencing, field video production, CD-ROM and internet content for distance learning, and radio and television "news" production.

For the USDA, BMTC "produces more than 90 TV news stories a year in the form of Video News Releases" and "over 2,000 radio news stories," or audio news releases (ANRs), in addition to public service announcements. BMTC has eight TV production staff, three radio reporters, two TV reporters, and several other multimedia, support and administrative staff. The BMTC web site says its ANRs cover "issues from food safety to international trade in a nonpartisan manner," while its VNRs cover "mission messages" in such areas as trade, biotechnology, food safety, conservation, small farms and marketing.

'Nothing But Media Hype'

Mad cow disease has been a frequent topic of these USDA reports. Over the past six months, BMTC has produced five VNRs and 29 ANRs on the issue. Like the piece described above, they tend to ignore safety concerns, instead focusing on international trade or USDA "accomplishments."