Money, "News" and Ethics
Friday January 7, 2005
A little reported news item from May 2004 : The GAO found that the Bush Administration illegally produced "video news releases" touting the Medicare prescription drug bill. The 16-page legal opinion says that the Administration illegally used federal money to produce propaganda and broke a prohibition against unauthorized use of federal funds. Flash forward to January 2005 : USA Today has discovered
that the Bush Education department paid a TV pundit a quarter of a million dollars to push the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, to interview Education Secretary Rod Paige for TV and radio spots that ran in 2004, and to urge other black journalists to support NCLB.
What do the two have in common? In neither case is there full disclosure for the public. Although TV producers knew the video news releases came from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, "the VNRs did not alert television viewers that CMS was the source of the story package."
Armstrong Williams, called "one of the most recognized conservative voices in America" by the Washington Post, promoted NCLB on his daily TV show on "America's Voice' network. His column appears in the LA Times, USA Today and the Wall Street Journal. At least four of his weekly columns in 2004 explicitly touted NCLB; in another column, close to the election, he endorsed Bush, mentioning, specifically, education policy.
Interestingly, a poll on Armstrong's web site is critical of his role in promoting NCLB: at this writing, 89.41% of those taking the poll believe it was wrong for the feds to pay him to promote the law.
See Armstrong Williams at Townhall ; GAO Decision (19 May 04) ; GovExec.com (20 May 04) ; USA Today (07 Jan 05) ; Washington Post (20 May 04) .
What do the two have in common? In neither case is there full disclosure for the public. Although TV producers knew the video news releases came from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, "the VNRs did not alert television viewers that CMS was the source of the story package."
Armstrong Williams, called "one of the most recognized conservative voices in America" by the Washington Post, promoted NCLB on his daily TV show on "America's Voice' network. His column appears in the LA Times, USA Today and the Wall Street Journal. At least four of his weekly columns in 2004 explicitly touted NCLB; in another column, close to the election, he endorsed Bush, mentioning, specifically, education policy.
Interestingly, a poll on Armstrong's web site is critical of his role in promoting NCLB: at this writing, 89.41% of those taking the poll believe it was wrong for the feds to pay him to promote the law.
See Armstrong Williams at Townhall ; GAO Decision (19 May 04) ; GovExec.com (20 May 04) ; USA Today (07 Jan 05) ; Washington Post (20 May 04) .
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