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American politicians use propaganda just like Hitler, Stalin and Mao did. In this case a California water district has paid $200,000 for a bogus news firm to write wonderful stories about it which are posted on Google news.
Water district taps Google for good coverage By Sam Allen, Los Angeles Times September 13, 2011 Readers who type "Central Basin Municipal Water District" into Google News get a series of upbeat articles. One story hails the benefits of Central Basin's new recycled water system. Another piece praises the agency's legal battle over groundwater rights. Others catalog the successes of its conservation programs. What the average reader doesn't know is that Central Basin is paying nearly $200,000 in taxpayer money for the glowing coverage. In a highly unusual move, the water district hired a consultant to produce promotional stories "written in the image of real news," according to agreements reviewed by The Times. The articles appear on a professional-looking news website called News Hawks Review. The site is indexed on Google News, carries its own advertisements and boasts an "experienced and highly knowledgeable" staff of editors and reporters. But records show it is directly affiliated with a corporate communications firm under contract with Central Basin. It's fairly common for celebrities and private-sector businesses to game search engines to generate positive buzz or better sales. But Web experts said they had never heard of a public entity employing such a strategy to increase its visibility online. They also question whether Google would continue to classify News Hawks Review as a "news channel" if it knew the articles were paid for by the district. District officials have portrayed the arrangement as innovative, noting that people who type "water conservation," or "recycled water" on Google News are now more likely to find stories about Central Basin. Valerie Howard, the district's public affairs manager, said the news stories have resulted in a "huge spike" in traffic to Central Basin's main website and proved far more effective than traditional press releases. But open government advocates said the district is blurring the line between promotion and real news. "This is a serious breach of the public trust," said Terry Francke, general counsel of Californians Aware. "If it was known and approved by the board, it could be interpreted as the use of $200,000 of taxpayer funds as a self-promotion to help them stay in office." Some people quoted by News Hawks Review said they were unaware of its relationship with the water district. Bell Gardens City Council member Pedro Aceituno thought he was being interviewed by a regular reporter when he spoke to News Hawks in July for a story titled: "Local Elected Officials Praise Central Basin Lawsuit vs. WRD." "I'm surprised," Aceituno said after a Times reporter explained the contract agreement. "They should say who they're with, especially if it's not an independent view." The water district, a public agency that serves more than 2 million residents in southeast Los Angeles County, hired Coghlan Consulting Group to lead its news division in November. Under the agreement, Central Basin pays $11,500 to the firm each month in exchange for four news stories and other promotional services. The deal was extended in April. "All of us know that getting positive news coverage about the agency is a very difficult challenge," the firm's principal, Ed Coghlan, wrote in a letter to the district describing the service. "The solution? How about our own news outlet." Because News Hawks is labeled a news channel by Google, Coghlan wrote, Central Basin's "communication efforts" would "show up as news stories … on the Internet." It remains unclear exactly who writes the stories. Coghlan said in his agreement with Central Basin that the site was "a member" of his company, but News Hawks is actually registered to his associate, Anthony Marino. In a brief interview, Marino said he alone manages the site and that Coghlan has no editorial control. Coghlan did not respond to interview requests. Central Basin officials were pleased with the results. When the district extended the News Hawks contract in April, Howard wrote in a memo that "no other California water agency is using online media tools in this way." She said in an interview last week that she didn't consider the website misleading and believed the News Hawks coverage has been fair. Howard also said the district has been fighting what she described as inaccurate stories in the news media as well as on a blog called centralbasin.net, which has been chronicling criticism of the water district. That website is operated by the Water Replenishment District of Southern California, a separate water agency that Central Basin has been battling in court. It is not a news site. Central Basin has been the subject of negative press coverage in the last year. Los Angeles County prosecutors are investigating travel expenses the district paid for its elected board members and their spouses. The Times reported in June on contracts totaling more than $2 million the district awarded to a nonprofit run by George Cole, a former Bell city councilman charged with public corruption. And in recent months some local politicians have called for a state audit of Central Basin's finances. Businesses have long tried to steer readers toward positive coverage and away from negative articles online. Danny Sullivan, a search engine expert based in Orange County, said Google News can significantly increase the visibility of a story or website because of its popularity and the relatively small number of sites included in its index. But Google generally frowns on efforts to disguise public relations as independent news, Sullivan said, adding that if Google examined News Hawks Review more closely it could withdraw the news label. He cited a recent investigation in which the Federal Trade Commission shut down a group of fake news websites designed to promote acai berries. In that case, federal regulators concluded that sites that appeared to belong to legitimate news-gathering organizations were in reality enticing consumers to buy acai berry weight-loss products. "Clearly the FTC doesn't like the idea of these types of news sites," Sullivan said. "If you can get into Google News then you really have the ability to influence what people are going to see." Document: Read the water district's agreements for producing news articles. samuel.allen@latimes.com
One of the articles these folks paid $200,000+ for follows. Remember it's NEWS, not government propaganda. Or at least that's that what our government masters at the "Central Basin Municipal Water District" who paid for the articles tell us!
California Bay Delta Project – A Key To California’s Water Infrastructure By Mike Adams on Aug 31 2011 Roger Patterson Metropolitan Water District There has been increasing dialogue lately about the importance of investing in California’s water infrastructure. Last week, California Legislative Analyst Mac Taylor issued a report calling for increased investment in California’s infrastructure, including water and flood control. This week, the General Manager of Southern California’s Central Basin Municipal Water District, Art Aguilar, called for more stimulus spending on water projects which he believes will have a dual benefit, it will improve California’s water infrastructure and it will put more people back to work. People who live in California understand the importance of water. It plays a huge role in the vitality and prosperity of the Golden State. Much of the water comes from rain or snow that falls in the northern and eastern parts of the state, while most of the population is in the western and southern regions of California. And, much of California’s food is grown in the Central Valley. This means that California has to move water great distances to meet the needs of its citizens. That’s why California’s water and political leaders are keeping an eye on the development of the California Bay Delta draft plan which is due out in its final form later this year. It promises a dramatic overhaul of how a critical California water supply is protected and transported over the next century. Such a huge project will demand significant public investment by federal, state and local agencies whose job it is to provide a reliable safe supply of water to California. Recently, Central Basin hosted a meeting of water leaders in Southern California and featured Roger Patterson, who is the assistant General Manager of Southern California’s giant Metropolitan Water District and is an expert on the California Bay Delta. In an interview with News Hawks Review, Patterson said he believes the key figure in convincing Californians about the importance of protecting and improving the California Bay Delta over the next century is Governor Jerry Brown. See YouTube video above for the interview. California Water Agency Calls for More Stimulus Spending By Mike Adams on Aug 30 2011 Central Basin's Southeast Water Reliability Project created 300 jobs and $18 million in labor income into the community. It is widely expected that President Obama will call for more spending on the nation’s infrastructure when he announces his jobs initiative next week. The General Manager of one Southern Californiawater district thinks that is a very good idea. “We have seen many recent examples of how our infrastructure is aging. The drought in Texas and the Southwest, the earthquake on the East Coast and now Hurricane Irene have all demonstrated the need to upgrade and replace the nation’s transportation, water and flood-control systems,” said Art Aguilar, General Manager of the Central Basin Municipal Water District in Southern California. Central Basin serves more than 2 million people in southeast Los Angeles County. Aguilar’s call for more investment in infrastructure was echoed last week by California Legislative Analyst Mac Taylor who released a long report on the state’s infrastructure crisis. “Much of the state’s infrastructure is aging and needs to renovated, adapted or improved to meet current and future needs, “Taylor wrote in his report. “California will continue to need new infrastructure to accommodate population growth.” Taylor emphasized transportation, education and water and flood control systems as areas where investment should be directed. Aguilar already knows how past stimulus spending has helped. Central Basin used $5.6 million in federal stimulus funding for the Southeast Water Reliability Project (SWRP), a recycled water projected that added 6.7 miles of pipeline to the District’s current system. Now complete, the project will deliver more than 5 million gallons of recycled water each year for irrigations of school grounds, street medians and parks and other commercial and industrial uses. Not only will the project reduce demand on expensive imported water by 25%, but it was also a job creator. “It created more than 300 local jobs, brought in $18 million in total labor income to the local economy and has raised over $2 million in local tax revenues,” said Aguilar. “Those statistics demonstrate why public works projects make sense.” While the national unemployment rate hovers around 9%, it is closer to 12% in California. According to the Economic Policy Institute, California needs to create an additional 1.8 million jobs just to keep up with the state’s anticipated population growth. Aguilar and other local leaders in California have begun to stress the need for national and state leaders to pass another economic stimulus package, which may be part of President Obama’s proposal next week. The aftermath of experiencing an earthquake and a hurricane along the East Coast in the same week also had many local and state leaders joining their California counterparts in talking about the need to upgrade infrastructure. Newark, New Jersey Mayor Corey Booker said on the Meet The Press Sunday that the nation needs to improve its infrastructure immediately. He said that the investment would fix the aging systems and put people back to work. That’s a theme Aguilar has been pushing. “As a public agency, we’re always looking to do more for the people we serve. I think what we were able to achieve for our community through SWRP is evidence enough of the lasting value of stimulus spending. We’re ready to do more and have projects ready to go should more funding become available,” he said. “We believe that it should.”
Here is a snap shot of the screen after I went to Google News and searched for "Central Basin Municipal Water District" |