This report on the use of pre-packaged video news releases by the White House is provoking much discussion.

One can't blame the Bush administration (or the Clinton administration before it) for pumping out slickly produced propaganda disguised as "news."

Britain's Central Office of Information does much the same thing.

It is, after all, the job of government information ministries the world over to paint their paymasters in the best possible light.

Those at fault are the broadcasters who try to make up for the underfunding of their news departments by using the material sent to them by PR agencies working for governments.

As the Times report rightly notes:

"In essence, video news releases seek to exploit a growing vulnerability of television news: Even as news staffs at the major networks are shrinking, many local stations are expanding their hours of news coverage without adding reporters.