GAO and Television News: An Alliance of Incentives

This article, which appeared in the GAO Review, Vol. 21, Issue 1, Winter 1986, discusses why television media relies on GAO as a news source. The Office of Public Information has developed a distribution system that reflects considerable media interest in GAO reports, which indicates that journalists rely on GAO reports for story leads because the information consistently meets four television news criteria, including conflict, viewer impact, viewer reassurance, and visual interest.