behind the news

Karen Ryan: “I Feel Like Political Roadkill”

March 18, 2004

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.

She’s not some sort of fraud, she told us, she’s a public relations professional who runs a p.r. company called Karen Ryan Group Communications — and these days she feels as if her world has collapsed around her. “I do feel I was singled out in this whole political mess, and I was used,” she said. “All the good things I did in my life, and now I’ve become this horrible person. I made sure that I played by all the rules.

“If you have a problem with the Bush administration, if you want to have a debate over the use of video news releases, that’s one thing,” she said. “But what seemed to be picked up was ‘Karen Ryan.'”

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Was it fair to call her an actress? “No. To me, an actress would have a SAG [Screen Actors Guild] card. An actress is someone that’s playing someone they’re not.”

Does she have any qualms about the fact that her video press releases frequently run as “news”? No. The news stations, she said, bear the responsibility for how they use the footage she provides.

Does she choose the work she does on the basis of any political sympathy, or out of an interest in the product or service being promoted? Not at all, she told us. It’s just a way of earning a buck. (Although, she allowed, if she were ever asked to work on an issue that was really beyond the pale, she might hesitate.)

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.)

While Ryan has previously worked as a journalist, as the Washington Post reported Tuesday, she currently heads her own p.r. firm. In addition to providing her corporate, government, and non-profit clients with communications advice and services, she often produces video news releases packaged as complete news segments, touting her clients’ product or issue — as she did for HHS recently. And she herself generally does the voiceover, which closes with the now legendary, “In Washington, I’m Karen Ryan reporting.”

Ryan is clearly good at her job. Over the last few years, literally hundreds of stations have run — as news — items “reported” by Ryan, pushing everything from Excedrin to “a new ear infection treatment called Ciprodex.” Here’s an excerpt from her work, which ran as news in July of last year on WBRZ Baton Rouge:

Ryan: Now, low dose hormone therapy is available with 28 percent less estrogen and 40 percent less progestin. And with low dose hormone therapy now available by prescription, health experts recommend consulting your doctor to find out what’s right for you. Women who want symptom relief with less hormones now have new options. In Washington, I’m Karen Ryan reporting.

And here are excerpts from a “report” that ran in September of last year, also on WBRZ:

Ryan: Experts say many children don’t like to get vaccinated, but this year there’s a new needle-free option called Flumist.

Robert Belshe: Influenza enters the body through the nose. FluMist is a new type of influenza vaccine that is given as a nasal spray or nasal mist.

That’s one reason why Sharon Moore is having her daughter vaccinated this year.

Sharon Moore: I was real interested when I found out that the vaccine was given in the form of a nose spray. To me it sounded like a less painful way of delivering the vaccine.

Ryan: Studies show Flumist is 85 percent effective, and it’s not just for healthy children aged 5 and older. It’s approved for healthy adults to age 49.

Tammy Grant: This flu season I’m really looking forward to getting the vaccine through FluMist rather than through an injection. And I’m going to encourage my staff and my co-workers and my family to all get protected.

Ryan: Flumist is now available in doctor’s offices and pharmacies. In Washington, I’m Karen Ryan reporting.

Another cheery Ryan “report” began: “Video game units are very popular this year on Christmas wish lists.”

It continued:

Interview — Matt Schelhouse, Best Buy Manager, we can’t keep them on the shelves. They’re gone within two hours. The newest consoles are Nintendo’s Game Cube and Microsoft X-Box.

Ryan is as happy to shill for public interest groups as for corporations and government agencies. She appeared in segments commissioned by the environmental group Union of Concerned Scientists that ran on numerous local stations in September of last year, urging consumers to avoid SUVs. And in May of last year, in a segment picked up by KTBC Austin among others, she “reported” on the dangers of smoking while pregnant, on behalf of the National Partnership of Pregnant Smokers.

But now, she feels as if that has all gone up in smoke. Says Ryan: “I feel like political roadkill.”

She’s not some sort of fraud, she told us, she’s a public relations professional who runs a p.r. company called Karen Ryan Group Communications — and these days she feels as if her world has collapsed around her. “I do feel I was singled out in this whole political mess, and I was used,” she said. “All the good things I did in my life, and now I’ve become this horrible person. I made sure that I played by all the rules.

“If you have a problem with the Bush administration, if you want to have a debate over the use of video news releases, that’s one thing,” she said. “But what seemed to be picked up was ‘Karen Ryan.’”

Was it fair to call her an actress? “No. To me, an actress would have a SAG [Screen Actors Guild] card. An actress is someone that’s playing someone they’re not.”

Does she have any qualms about the fact that her video press releases frequently run as “news”? No. The news stations, she said, bear the responsibility for how they use the footage she provides.

Does she choose the work she does on the basis of any political sympathy, or out of an interest in the product or service being promoted? Not at all, she told us. It’s just a way of earning a buck. (Although, she allowed, if she were ever asked to work on an issue that was really beyond the pale, she might hesitate.)

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.)

While Ryan has previously worked as a journalist, as the Washington Post reported Tuesday, she currently heads her own p.r. firm. In addition to providing her corporate, government, and non-profit clients with communications advice and services, she often produces video news releases packaged as complete news segments, touting her clients’ product or issue — as she did for HHS recently. And she herself generally does the voiceover, which closes with the now legendary, “In Washington, I’m Karen Ryan reporting.”

Ryan is clearly good at her job. Over the last few years, literally hundreds of stations have run — as news — items “reported” by Ryan, pushing everything from Excedrin to “a new ear infection treatment called Ciprodex.” Here’s an excerpt from her work, which ran as news in July of last year on WBRZ Baton Rouge:

Ryan: Now, low dose hormone therapy is available with 28 percent less estrogen and 40 percent less progestin. And with low dose hormone therapy now available by prescription, health experts recommend consulting your doctor to find out what’s right for you. Women who want symptom relief with less hormones now have new options. In Washington, I’m Karen Ryan reporting.

And here are excerpts from a “report” that ran in September of last year, also on WBRZ:

Ryan: Experts say many children don’t like to get vaccinated, but this year there’s a new needle-free option called Flumist.

Robert Belshe: Influenza enters the body through the nose. FluMist is a new type of influenza vaccine that is given as a nasal spray or nasal mist.

That’s one reason why Sharon Moore is having her daughter vaccinated this year.

Sharon Moore: I was real interested when I found out that the vaccine was given in the form of a nose spray. To me it sounded like a less painful way of delivering the vaccine.

Ryan: Studies show Flumist is 85 percent effective, and it’s not just for healthy children aged 5 and older. It’s approved for healthy adults to age 49.

Tammy Grant: This flu season I’m really looking forward to getting the vaccine through FluMist rather than through an injection. And I’m going to encourage my staff and my co-workers and my family to all get protected.

Ryan: Flumist is now available in doctor’s offices and pharmacies. In Washington, I’m Karen Ryan reporting.

Another cheery Ryan “report” began: “Video game units are very popular this year on Christmas wish lists.”

It continued:

Interview — Matt Schelhouse, Best Buy Manager, we can’t keep them on the shelves. They’re gone within two hours. The newest consoles are Nintendo’s Game Cube and Microsoft X-Box.

Ryan is as happy to shill for public interest groups as for corporations and government agencies. She appeared in segments commissioned by the environmental group Union of Concerned Scientists that ran on numerous local stations in September of last year, urging consumers to avoid SUVs. And in May of last year, in a segment picked up by KTBC Austin among others, she “reported” on the dangers of smoking while pregnant, on behalf of the National Partnership of Pregnant Smokers.

But now, she feels as if that has all gone up in smoke. Says Ryan: “I feel like political roadkill.”

Zachary Roth is a contributing editor to The Washington Monthly. He also has written for The Los Angeles Times, The New Republic, Slate, Salon, The Daily Beast, and Talking Points Memo, among other outlets.