By now, we should all be aware of the ongoing battle for independent news reporting.

Outside… By now, we should all be aware of the ongoing battle for independent news reporting.

Outside of the charade that is Fox News and the focus of television media on ratings instead of news, serious journalism has been undermined by government attempts to influence it in every way.

There were payments to syndicated columnists by government agencies. Conservative commentator Armstrong Williams was paid $240,000 by the Education Department to back the No Child Left Behind Act. Two other journalists received smaller sums of money from the Department of Health and Human Services for their input on marriage initiatives.

Then there was the distressing — if comical — revelation that the White House had granted a press pass to a sympathizing pseudo-journalist with a fake name. Considering today’s focus on security and the fact that leftist Pulitzer Prize winner Maureen Dowd was denied the same privilege, it takes quite a leap of faith to regard “Jeff Gannon’s” presence as a mere oversight.

Still, the biggest intrusion of this administrative offensive against journalism is the least visible but most pervasive tactic of all — the government production of TV reports.

Essentially, government agencies produce news reports with public relations teams and then distribute these to local TV stations. By design, these segments emulate independent news formats and omit the mention of the government’s role in their creation. Though the individual TV stations are informed of their origin, the viewer watching the report is not — he or she is misled to believe the reports are independent and accurate.

Of course, it is no surprise that these “reports” routinely portray the government positively, skirt controversy and disallow critics. A detailed piece in The New York Times informs us that even the interviews with government agents in these reports are rehearsed — the questions and answers are carefully prepared.

When President George W. Bush said just over a month ago that there “needs to be a nice independent relationship between … the administration and the press,” I suppose this is what he meant.

The inability of local news outlets to independently and thoroughly cover heaps of stories is being exploited. The government gladly offers up its version of events, and sadly, the TV stations are biting. Apparently, our media sources regard journalistic integrity as relatively unimportant. What matters is to run a story, even if it amounts to little more than propaganda obscured by format.

In the most famous instance of this tactic, “journalist” Karen Ryan promoted the administration’s Medicare plan in a government-sponsored news piece that aired nationally without attribution to its creators. The Times reports that, “Ms. Ryan’s segments on behalf of the government were broadcast a total of at least 64 times in the 40 largest television markets.” And while the instance was exposed for its fraud, the reach of this handy, government-sponsored media is astounding and growing.

In the last year, federal contracts with public relations firms have jumped from $39 million to $88.2 million. In total, the Bush administration spent $254 million on these deals in their first term. Dozens of government agencies have employed the technique and the number of airings of these deceptive reports is incalculable.

One of the great virtues of our country is the freedom of our press. The media has historically been the great American watchdog and whistleblower, and it must preserve this vital role in ensuring the authenticity of our democracy.

With that in mind, local stations should refuse the convenience of state-sponsored news clips and the public at large must stand in vehement opposition to the intrusion of government into the necessarily independent task of journalism.

Few things are as important to a free society as the independence of the press, and we cannot become so complacent that government slants come to pass as news. If we do, we run the risk of Fox News truly appearing fair and balanced. Imagine that.

E-mail your government-sponsored propaganda at [email protected].