What President Bush Taught The Terminator
What President Bush Taught The Terminator
When Arnold Schwarzenegger landed his current starring role as California governor, many worried about his lack of political experience. Never fear; the actor has turned out to be a quick study in partisan trickery. Taking a page from the Bush administration’s playbook, Gov. Schwarzenegger has been using taxpayer money to pay for fake news.
This advertisement is filmed to look like a real news report. It’s narrated by an actual former TV reporter who, no longer a journalist, now works for the state. The ad pushes a new, government-backed, corporation-friendly proposal which would kill mandatory lunch hours. California workers – construction workers, waitresses, nurses, farm workers and a forklift operator — are shown in “interviews,” extolling the benefits of the proposal.
It’s pure political propaganda. The proposal is backed by big corporations like Wal-Mart and Home Depot, which have been in expensive hot water for denying workers time for lunch. It’s also backed by the California Restaurant Assn., “which donated $21,000 to one of Schwarzenegger’s campaign funds last year and provided food for his 2003 inauguration.” The “news” segment ignores all of that, and stays very quiet about the fact that “organized labor opposes the changes, or that workers would have a harder time suing employers over missed meal breaks.”
But you’d never know it wasn’t real by watching your local California news station. Eighteen stations ran the spots as news reports. The tape even provided positive promo text for the local anchors, which read: “If approved, the changes would clear up uncertainty in the business community and create a better working environment throughout the state.”
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Seems like the Terminator can get away with anything. Is there any way to hold this guy accountable? (Is he going to be our next President?)
February 28th, 2005 at 7:25 pmThe blogosphere can hold him accountable, then we use our fledling echo chamber. It’s something that can generate some noise.
February 28th, 2005 at 9:54 pmThese “news” reports are just like official looking spam, or banner ads that appear “system generated” appearing on websites, or even Publisher’s Clearing House mailers that dupe people into thinking they are on the short-list.
This is just another form of advertising – getting the message out to people too busy to KNOW the news but interested enough to perk-up for a seemingly-official message.
The Republicans who have resorted to these tactics (I’m sure there are others in other walks of life) probably feel a little sleazier for doing it, but I doubt sleazy enough to abandon a hugely successful vehicle for spin.
I’d expect much much more of this type of thing in the future – maybe not so obvious next time…
March 1st, 2005 at 8:57 amThis is a horrible trend with an easy solution. Start taglining *every* videoclip that is used on a news program. Just like movie clips have “courtesy Warner Bros.” or sports clips have “courtesy ESPN,” every clip on the news (that doesn’t originate in *that* newsroom) should have “courtesy Governor’s Office” or “courtesy “WH Press Office.” It’s an instant way to stop this abuse of the press.
March 1st, 2005 at 12:20 pmHey Jon, Good Idea. Give the source.
March 3rd, 2005 at 2:39 pm