WASHINGTON—A $1.5 billion public relations campaign across TV, radio and digital platforms to promote the COVID-19 vaccine is in the works by the White House, according to a report from STAT.

Congress and the Biden Administration have set aside the $1.5 billion in funds, which come from the COVID-19 relief package recently passed, to target three groups that are reported to be more reluctant to receive a vaccination: young people, people of color and conservatives, STAT reported. The campaign is expected to begin in the coming weeks.

As for the content of the campaign, administration officials are aware that messages from President Joe Biden and Dr. Anthony Fauci may not be effective with some of these groups, so there are plans to recruit celebrities and local officials to promote the pro-vaccine message.

Shortly after taking office, President Biden announced that his administration would kick off a public vaccination campaign with the goal of convincing every American adult to get a COVID-19 vaccine.

This new campaign will be in addition to already seen efforts by the administration to utilize broadcast to tout the need and safety of the vaccine. President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have appeared on TV and radio, as has Dr. Fauci, Yale’s Marcella Nunez-Smith and National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins.

For more information on the campaign plan, read STAT’s full story. 

Covering the White House is an amazing responsibility for any journalist, never more so than in 2019. Doing it for the Voice of America brings its own challenges and opportunities. The session “VOA at the White House: Covering the Administration” will be presented at The Video Show, a two-day event in Washington, Dec. 4–5.

In the session, Steve Herman, White House bureau chief for the Voice of America, will share his experiences, some of the hard lessons he has learned and how VOA approaches its role in today’s contentious media climate. How do you cram a pool of 22 reporters, videographers, still photographers and audio tech into the Oval Office anyway?

The Video Show caught up with Herman for a minute ahead of the show.

The Video Show:How is your approach to covering the White House different than the other correspondents there?

Steve Herman: VOA broadcasts to the rest of the world in 47 languages, we do not target a domestic U.S. audience. So our focus is quite different on White House issues than most news outlets covering the administration. Stories that have a geo-political angle—something about Russia or Africa, for example—are important to our audiences, who are less interested in West Wing process stories that might be consuming the attention of most White House reporters on any given day.

TVS:What have you found to be the most challenging aspect of the White House beat?

SH: Multitasking, definitely. When I’m in the Oval Office or on the tarmac next to Air Force One with the president, I’m simultaneously recording broadcast-quality audio for all the radio networks as the pool reporter, sending pool reports to those networks, also snapping a few photos or recording a video clip on my iPhone and then tweeting out the gist of what’s happening.

The Video Show will feature more than 100 sessions on nine presentation stages, as well as a dedicated screening room, demo areas, streaming studio and dynamic exhibit floor. Want to hear more about this topic? Visit thewebsiteto learn more and register.

WASHINGTON—The White House is showing its support for the increased use of drones, announcing a plan for the integration of drones into daily life and commerce. The White House Office of Science and Technology based these new rules off of the FAA’s previously announced Small UAS rules. Though there were no strict privacy rules issued, the National Telecommunication’s & Information Administration developed privacy recommendations for best practice, as well as other practices for the likes of TV and film users, including reasonable efforts to provide prior notice; limiting the collection, use and storage of data; protecting collected data; and monitoring and complying with state laws.

TVT’s sister publication Broadcasting & Cable has the full story here.