Since the December passage of the Medicare bill, "there have been a lot of questions about how the law will help older Americans and people with disabilities. Reporter Karen Ryan helps sort through the details." This is the suggested lead in for local stations running new video news releases [3] prepared by the Department of Health and Human Services. The spots have aired in Okalahoma, Louisiana and other states, without any indication of their source or disclaimer that "reporter" Karen Ryan [4] is actually a public relations consultant, contracted by Home Front Communications to read "a script prepared by the government." An HHS spokesperson correctly notes that VNRs are "a common, routine practice in government and the private sector"; studies have estimated that up to 40 percent of "the news" comes from VNRs and other forms of PR. VNRs "became more prominent in the 1980's, as more and more television stations cut news-gathering budgets."