News: Slow Burn: the Bush Administration and Prepackaged News

"Under Bush, a New Age of Prepackaged TV News", via New York Times AP rss feed.
I'm going to come out and say it right now: I don't like Bush. I just don't like him. I don't like his policies, I don't even like his mannerisms. He is goddamn *cocky*.

But even if you like Bush, his administration is something else entirely. I've no idea if Bush is behind this "prepackaged news", this tampering with the free press and lying to the American people. But his administration is, and it's sleazy as hell. And what gives? Aren't there laws against this? Why hasn't anybody been arrested yet?

At the very least, this "Prepackaged News" is false advertising. Would it be legal for say, the company behind Ritalin to release a very, very convincing news segment-type thing that one-sidedly extolled the virtues of its product? No. They would be required to put some notification inside the ad that told people that this is, in fact, an advertisement and not a real news segment.

The White House is doing the same thing as my Ritalin example, only they are 1. being a lot sneakier about it and 2. lying about something 'ell-of-a-lot more important than Ritalin.