By Dave Alexander
In light of recent controversies surrounding the use of PR firms to prepare pre-packaged news stories--often in the form of video news releases (VNRs)--the federal government
is tightening its enforcement of rules governing the purchase of such services.
While the restrictions are aimed at preventing federal agencies and departments from engaging in unlawful practices, PR firms currently active in the federal market or that
are trying to enter it for the first time have to take special care to understand these restrictions and to help ensure that none of their work ever comes close to the line.
The newly tightened policies are a result of the growing fondness by federal agencies and departments during the last decade for producing VNRs.
A federal watchdog agency, the Government Accountability Office (GAO), recently researched the creation of VNRs by federal agencies, and it found that some were
stepping over the proscribed line by creating VNRs that violated statutory prohibitions against spending public monies on propaganda.
The GAO concluded that the offending VNRs were unlawful because they were "covert as to source." According to the GAO:
- The VNRs produced by the Office of National Drug Control Policy and by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) were designed to be
indistinguishable from news stories produced by private news broadcasters. - The VNRs featured hired actors posing as "reporters" without clearly identifying them as being the former.
- Bottom line: The TV-viewing audiences did not know that stories they watched on TV news programs about the government were, in fact, prepared by (and for) the government.
The violation was, in the GAO's opinion, roughly parallel to violations by other federal entities that distributed "suggested" editorials or that paid pundits to write
commentaries without attributing the government agency as the sponsor.
Some federal agencies, including the General Services Administration that issues contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars per year for PR and advertising
services, are beginning to acknowledge the prohibition against propaganda explicitly in their RFPs. Other federal agencies continue to procure VNRs and related services without
explicitly noting the heightened concern.
If your firm is providing PR services for the federal government or is interested in breaking into this market, what should you do?
- Learn the rules. If you are producing a VNR for a federal agency, know where the boundaries are--and stay a mile on this side of them. You don't want to be in the
position of trying to defend your firm by saying, "I was just doing what I thought the federal agency wanted me to do. How was I to know that my client wanted me to design a VNR
that was not within the legal guidelines?" - Be a partner. If you are under contract to produce a VNR for a federal agency, work hand-in-hand with your client to make sure that--from the very start of the project-
-you both have a common understanding of how you will stay well-within the law.
During the course of the project, your federal client might inadvertently suggest a conceptual approach or may suggest a script change that seems to stray too close to the
definition of propaganda.
Work with your client to highlight your concern. Federal personnel usually are grateful when their contractors help them avoid mistakes. And what if your particular client
reacts hostilely to your concern? Escalate the issue, resolve it or quit the account.
PR firms (and their clients) that want to operate in this arena have to abide by the letter of the law. Those that demonstrate--in some degree of detail--they understand the
difference between preparing a corporate VNR and a federal VNR will have an advantage over those that don't acknowledge or don't seem to understand the issue.