Apparently, the Bush administration, through the Department of Education, paid Armstrong Williams to pimp the No Child Left Behind Act during his show.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-01-06-williams-whitehouse_x.htm
I want my money back.
I also wonder how much they have been doing this? Have they paid Rush Limbaugh to keep on message? Bill O’Reilly?
These people are just plain unethical.
I think I’m suffering from Outrage Fatigue. I really should stop being surprised at anything this administration does.
This is the same Ketchum PR firm who have brought us the fake news releases promoting the Medicare Prescription Drug Plan. That got them a smackdown from the GAO, I wonder what this will bring?
And Armstrong Williams should be fired. Period.
I kinda miss Harry and Louise, don’t you? It was a simpler, gentler, time …
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Here is a quote:
If the videos had been identified as coming from the federal agency, that would have been legal, Poling said. But the television package looks like authentic independent journalism.
“The critical element of covert propaganda is the concealment of the agency’s role in sponsoring the materials,” GAO wrote to Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.), who requested the Jan. 4 report.
“It is illegal to use taxpayer dollars to influence public opinion surreptitiously,” Waxman said yesterday. “Unfortunately, this is the *second time in less than a year that GAO has caught the Bush administration violating a fundamental principle of open government.” *
Emphasis added.
Sigh…
Mike Morris Reporting…
Oooh, even better, from the CNN coverage of this:
“The Bush administration has promoted No Child Left Behind with a video that comes across as a news story but fails to make clear the reporter involved was paid with taxpayer money. It has also has paid for rankings of newspaper coverage of the law, with points awarded for stories that say Bush and the Republican Party are strong on education. The Government Accountability Office, Congress’ auditing arm, is investigating those spending decisions.”
(bolding mine, of course)
Yay! Let’s bribe the media! I wonder if you get a free cruise if you intentionally don’t report anything bad about the current administration?
Well, at least no laws or regulations were broken or violated, right? I mean, there are not any rules against bribing the media or campaigning with public money, are there?
Well, not laws, really, more like guidelines. Flexible guidelines.
Sorry I didn’t see this thread sooner - I pulled up a recent thread about media in GD to mention it.
The legality of using public funds for something like this is one question (IMO, illegal, but who’s gonna do something about it?).
My question is: Would it be illegal or unethical to use private funds to influence punditry in similar fashion?
I’ve heard that business schools teach the maxim, “A good idea doesn’t need to be sold,” as a rule of thumb for identifying good ideas from bad.
Makes me wonder if George W. Bush, the “CEO President”, doesn’t have this in mind when he pulls stunts like this…
The earlier videos with “reporters” were not terribly different from the sort of P.R. materials put out by government agencies/administrations in the past.
The current scandal goes way beyond that, is disgustingly unethical on the part of all involved, and heads should roll.
First and foremost, there is Armstrong Williams, whose credibility should be shot to hell at this point. I can’t imagine what justification any of his employers would have in keeping him on.
Illegal: no, not as long as the pundit was employed by a private corporation (i.e. not an elected official or Presidential appointee being interviewed). Fox News, for example, would probably fire Hannity in a New York Post minute if he became anti-Bush- essentially he’s paid to tow the conservative line.
Unethical: If it is not disclosed that the person’s decisions are in full or part based
on financial gain directly linked to their endorsement, then it’s totally unethical. (If, for example, it was discovered that Kerry paid $1 million to the making of Fahrenheit 911 and Moore never disclosed this, it would be unethical but not illegal.)
What disgusts me the most about this not surprising revelation is that Williams, the champion of locking up the Federal treasury where Medicaid and welfare and other non-defense related issues were concerned, KNEW PERFECTLY WELL THAT THE $240,000 HE RECEIVED WAS PUBLIC MONEY. Ultimately, We the People paid Williams to lick Dubya’s ankles. Fucking toadying whore.
I love Williams’s comment: “I didn’t do anything wrong, but I won’t do it again.”
This might be an interesting reality show: how much money would it take to get Williams to endorse the Aryan Nations as a Faith Based Charity? Or how much would you have to pay Paul & Jan Crouch to yell “Hail Satan!” on air? Or to make Hannity say “Bush is full of shit”. I’m guessing they would all do it for the right monetary incentive.
The majority of American voters don’t care what Bushco does. Hell they accept torture!
Bushco can do anything they wish.
God help us.
He’d have to check with Bush’s opinion before he could make a decision.
I bet Williams would sell out to the Aryan Nation in a minute as long as someone (preferably white) pets him on the head and tells him how good a negro he is. Oh, and provides him with the latest cowboy boots so that he looks real nifty when he tap dances on camera.
He’s such an embarrassing fool.
Reeder, I know you’re trying to project a tone of wise world-weariness and pitying condescension, but going on about “Bushco” makes you sound about 11 years old.
Another case of having nothing to say but an insult.
It looks good on you.
Makes his butt look big, though.
Nah…It’s the stripes.
Didn’t someone start a thread a week or two ago about how Al Sharpton got paid money by the Democrats?
The point of the OP is that it was tax monies that was paid.
ASFAIK the dems didn’t use tax money.
Well, they would have! If they had been voted in, then they would have had the tax money, and would have done the same thing! So they’re just as bad!