The Fake Bush Medicare Ad: Karen Ryan Speaks Up

[Sticky]

Karen Ryan: "I Feel Like Political Roadkill"

By Zachary Roth

There's been a little confusion lately in both journalism and politics over the burning question: Who the hell IS Karen Ryan? So we asked her.

As the New York Times first reported Monday, Ryan appears in a number of video news releases made on behalf of the Health and Human Services Department, which tout the controversial new Medicare law and its supposed benefits. The videos -- which end with the voice of a woman signing off, "In Washington, I'm Karen Ryan reporting." -- ran as news on various local TV stations. (To read the full transcript of one of the "news segments" that ran on WBRZ Baton Rouge, go here.)

HHS spokesman Bill Pierce originally described Ryan to us as a "freelance journalist." Pierce at first wouldn't let us speak to Ryan, saying that she was feeling "used and abused" by media accounts calling her an actress. (Perhaps Pierce was referring to an editorial in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, headed "Karen Ryan, You're a Phony," which called her not just an actress but a "hired propagandist".)

But Ryan herself wanted to set the record straight, and she disregarded her handlers' advice by speaking freely to Campaign Desk.


http://www.campaigndesk.org/archives/000305.asp

[jpgray]

1. Oh, so she just heads a PR firm, nothing to see here...

:eyes:

[Jane Austin]

2. Thanks for that link. n/t

[Jivenwail]

3. Does she want some cheese to go along with that whine?

[Dhalgren]

4. When you package advertisement as news spots

you are lying, period. It doesn't matter what you are hawking - it's a lie. She is now all, "It's not my fault", but hasn't addressed the central issue - that what she is doing is an intentional, premeditated lie. The average citizen has enough trouble wading through the morass of the daily bambardment by advertisers as it is, they don't need slick, propagandists veiling their speil as "news". I have no sympathy for her - she was "outed" as a liar, which is what she is.

[ret5hd]

11. It seems to me that we here at DU (and others)...

could spot these "ads" on our local news (hint: "reporting from washington" on the local news 1/2 hour) and "out" them with letters to the editors, letters to the news stations, etc

The same way we do when we spot ASTROTURF letters to the editor in our local papers.

In the same way that newspapers are now aware that we are alert to astroturf letters, let our local t.v. stations know that we are aware of astroturf "news".

We need to make a catchy name (like astroturf) for this phenomenon though.

[alfredo]

13. infoganda ? n/t

[ret5hd]

14. I'll go with that...

Well, this seals it...I (we) have a label for it now.

I, for one, now pledge to start watching my local news again,knowing full well that I will gain very little usefull knowledge from the experience. I will watch for reports from unfamiliar reporters. I will google said reporters names, and list any questionable reports here on DU, in the hope that other observant DU'ers will corroborate or debunk my suspicions. Upon corroboration, I will write a letter to the editor of my local paper exposing this fraudulent activity.

[alfredo]

15. Sounds like a plan.

Keep the pressure on him.

[Dufaeth]

5. That poor baby! n/t

[dweller]

6. I'm not a reporter either

but i play one at home...Miss Ryan,
:nopity:

Reporting from my home computer, this is
dweller. Back to you, DU....

dp

[Bonhomme Richard]

7. After reading the article I think she..................

deserves to feel like road kill. What really annoys me are the station news directors who put this crap on knowing very well that it is nothing more than an advertisement. I remember reading somewhere that quite a few stations now charge for running corporate PR ads and think it's a legitimate profit center for them. Fair enough, but run the news blip with a disclaimer so the audience knows that it is seeing propaganda. Hah, that's not likely to happen.

[Career Prole]

8. "Ryan worries that the Medicare furor...

...will make it harder for her to find work (the Plain Dealer piece warned readers: "If you see her, don't believe her"). As she sees it, she's the smallest fish in the pond, someone who has become a scapegoat, when in fact she is only a cog in a vast p.r. machine. "I'm the lowest person down on the bottom," she told us. (And in a way, she's right; in the case of the controversial Medicare plugs, HHS hired Ketchum Advertising, which in turn hired Home Front Communications, which in turn hired Ryan.)

I'm sorry Ms. Ryan, but you're mistaken. You are not "the smallest fish in the pond, someone who has become a scapegoat...only a cog in a vast p.r. machine"

That would be our seniors who you helped screw.

:nopity:

[displacedtexan]

9. Here's her website... interesting!

http://www.karenryangroup.com/karenryan.htm

Check out the Bio of her partner and the client list.

[annagull]

17. Well, well, well---CNN is in her client list?

[BlueEyedSon]

10. I'm sure she was paid well for that gig. BTW, was it OUR money???

No sympathy here.

[Fridays Child]

12. A marketing hack who now feels like political roadkill?

Aww! Too bad, Karen. You chose your profession and honed your little specialty of posing as a smooth-talking television news reporter. Well, it seems that you're not so slick, after all.

But I am curious about this money trail from HHS to Ketchum Advertising to Home Front Communications to Karen Ryan Group Communications. I wonder how much of our money was wasted on this propaganda fiasco and who Ketchum Advertising had to blow to get to the top of the heap.

[VolcanoJen]

19. Well, here's your answer on Ketchum Advertising.

Their main office is located in DC, and the official company name is "Ketchum Public Relations."

Click below to search OpenSecrets.org to see who is the beneficiary of Ketchum's hefty political donations:

http://www.opensecrets.org/softmoney/softcomp2.asp?txtName=Ketchum+Public+Relations&txtUltOrg=y&txtSort=name&txtCycle=2000

In the 2000 election cycle, Ketchum (and a woman named Karen Doyle, who is associated with Ketchum) donated $5,805, 100% to the Republican National Committee.

In 1997, they were quite a bit more equitable, donating $25,000 each to Dems and Republicans. Of course, Dems ran the White House in those days...

[hatrack]

16. Well, gee, Karen, you got paid, right?

And the check cleared, right? You did what they paid you to do, and I'm sure there are plenty of other pseudo-news releases in your prosperous future.

OK then, Ms. PR Professional, sit down, have a steaming hot mug of STFU and STOP WHINING.

[VolcanoJen]

18. Kick - NYTimes has a new editorial on Karen Ryan

Reporting Live, Outside Credibility

We simply cannot let this issue die. Jon Stewart is truly responsible for bringing it to national attention, and if you heard the gasps in the studio audience as he broke the news about the "fake news," you know how shocked and sickened many Americans will be when they learn of the Administration's latest attempts at deception.

Excerpt from the editorial:

The government insists that Ms. Ryan is the real deal. The Columbia Journalism Review, which put some actual reporters on the case, showed otherwise. Ms. Ryan turns out to be a public relations specialist who in this case was hired to portray a stand-up reporter presenting the Medicare plan as objective news. By her account, she once worked as a TV journalist. But her specialty, the review says, is this sort of faux news report.

No one should look down on either craft, acting or reporting, but the government is foolish not to honor the distinction. An angry health agency spokesman, Bill Pierce, says video handouts have been around for years. He also suggests that it's up to the news media whether to accept or reject them. Credibility is indeed at the heart of the matter — not only for the media, but also for an administration intent on spinning its way toward November.

[Bucky]

20. No sale, Ms Ryan. You shilled for drug companies & now for Bush

The interview makes it plain that she's been pushing drug product sales in the guise of fake reporting for years. So the shtick is old and she's good at it. There's nothing wrong with doing PR work. It's pretending to be an objective reporter while doing it that's unethical.

Is she the only bad guy here? Hell no. Nor is she being "singled out" as she claims. It's mostly Bush looking bad here. But Ryan does this fake reporter routine so often that she runs the risk of being a one-trick pony. If that's the case and her one trick is discredited, then she's right to panic. And she's smart to try and get sympathy here by talking to CJR's Campaign Desk.

But she still said "this is Karen Ryan reporting" when she was actually Karen Ryan pitching a product. I blame her equally with Tommy Thompson and George Bush and the lazy assed local TV stations that ran these stealth campaign ads as if they were real news reports. She's no more guilty than others, but she's no less guilty either.

Lady, you're busted. Fortunately we're in a period of economic growth so it won't be hard for you to find a new job.

[VolcanoJen]

21. Exactly. She indicted herself by saying "This is Karen Ryan, reporting."

She knew damn well she wasn't reporting, and her little helpless doe act is baloney.

The Cleveland Plain-Dealer had this scathing editorial about Karen:

Karen Ryan, you're a phony

More importantly, however, we need to remember that while Karen accepted the "assignment," and was surely well-paid for it, the real deception was initiated and sponsored by the Bush Administration, and taxpayer dollars paid for this, and other, deceptions.

Thank you sir, may I have another?

It's damn time we had our own taxpayer revolt against this disgusting Administration. Boston Tea Party, 2004...

[DeepModem Mom]

22. kick