In Bush's agencies, P.R. blurs into news: At least 20 agencies have made and distributed hundreds of television news segments in the past four years,

The Seattle Times: Nation & World: In Bush's agencies, P.R. blurs into news: "March 13, 2005 | By David Barstow and Robin Stein | The New York Times"

It is the kind of TV news coverage every president covets.

"Thank you, Bush. Thank you, U.S.A.," a jubilant Iraqi American told a camera crew in Kansas City for a segment about reaction to the fall of Baghdad. A second report told of "another success" in the Bush administration's "drive to strengthen aviation security"; the reporter called it "one of the most remarkable campaigns in aviation history." A third segment, broadcast in January, described the administration's determination to open markets for U.S. farmers.

To a viewer, each report looked like any other 90-second segment on the local news. In fact, the federal government produced all three. The report from Kansas City was made by the State Department. The "reporter" covering airport safety actually was a public-relations professional working under a false name for the Transportation Security Administration. The farming segment was done by the Agriculture Department's office of communications.

Under the Bush administration, the federal government aggressively has used a well-established tool of public relations: the prepackaged, ready-to-serve news report that major corporations long have distributed to TV stations to pitch everything from headache remedies to auto insurance. At least 20 federal agencies, including the Defense Department and the Census Bureau, have made and distributed hundreds of television news segments in the past four years, records and interviews show. Many were broadcast on local stations across the country without any acknowledgment of the government's role in their production.