posted on January 14, 2005 03:23:31 PM new
Education Dept. paid commentator to promote law
By Greg Toppo, USA TODAY
Seeking to build support among black families for its education reform law, the Bush administration paid a prominent black pundit $240,000 to promote the law on his nationally syndicated television show and to urge other black journalists to do the same.
Williams on being paid to boost NCLB: "I wanted to do it because it's something I believe in."
AP
The campaign, part of an effort to promote No Child Left Behind (NCLB), required commentator Armstrong Williams "to regularly comment on NCLB during the course of his broadcasts," and to interview Education Secretary Rod Paige for TV and radio spots that aired during the show in 2004.
Williams said Thursday he understands that critics could find the arrangement unethical, but "I wanted to do it because it's something I believe in."
The top Democrat on the House Education Committee, Rep. George Miller of California, called the contract "a very questionable use of taxpayers' money" that is "probably illegal." He said he will ask his Republican counterpart to join him in requesting an investigation.
The contract, detailed in documents obtained by USA TODAY through a Freedom of Information Act request, also shows that the Education Department, through the Ketchum public relations firm, arranged with Williams to use contacts with America's Black Forum, a group of black broadcast journalists, "to encourage the producers to periodically address" NCLB. He persuaded radio and TV personality Steve Harvey to invite Paige onto his show twice. Harvey's manager, Rushion McDonald, confirmed the appearances.
Williams said he does not recall disclosing the contract to audiences on the air but told colleagues about it when urging them to promote NCLB.
"I respect Mr. Williams' statement that this is something he believes in," said Bob Steele, a media ethics expert at The Poynter Institute for Media Studies. "But I would suggest that his commitment to that belief is best exercised through his excellent professional work rather than through contractual obligations with outsiders who are, quite clearly, trying to influence content."
The contract may be illegal "because Congress has prohibited propaganda," or any sort of lobbying for programs funded by the government, said Melanie Sloan of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. "And it's propaganda."
White House spokesman Trent Duffy said he couldn't comment because the White House is not involved in departments' contracts.
Ketchum referred questions to the Education Department, whose spokesman, John Gibbons, said the contract followed standard government procedures. He said there are no plans to continue with "similar outreach."
Williams' contract was part of a $1 million deal with Ketchum that produced "video news releases" designed to look like news reports. The Bush administration used similar releases last year to promote its Medicare prescription drug plan, prompting a scolding from the Government Accountability Office, which called them an illegal use of taxpayers' dollars.
Williams, 45, a former aide to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, is one of the top black conservative voices in the nation. He hosts The Right Side on TV and radio, and writes op-ed pieces for newspapers, including USA TODAY, while running a public relations firm, Graham Williams Group.
posted on January 14, 2005 03:26:05 PM new
Stop Bush Administration Pay-Offs To Journalists
The Bush administration has become addicted to taxpayer-funded, "fake news" propaganda - it's time for an intervention
News reports have revealed that the Department of Education used $240,000 of our tax dollars to hire Armstrong Williams, an ultra-conservative black columnist and talk-show host, to promote the controversial No Child Left Behind Act to his readers, viewers and colleagues in the media. Williams did just as the Department asked, praising Bush's signature education initiative in his columns as well as on his and other television shows. Repeatedly, he failed to inform his audiences that his comments were bought and paid for with their own taxes.
This is not an isolated incident or simply bad judgment. The Government Accountability Office found last year that the Department of Health and Human Services violated two federal laws by producing propaganda videos touting Medicare's new drug benefits which were misleadingly packaged to look like news reports from independent journalists. Last week, the GAO announced that the Office of National Drug Control Policy had also potentially broken the law by using taxpayer dollars to produce similar "fake news" video segments. Both agencies distributed the videos to news broadcasters, which in some cases aired them without telling viewers that they were watching government-sponsored propaganda.
Behind its rhetoric about moral values, the Bush administration is undermining ethical standards in government and attempting to hook the public on White House spin with undisclosed pay-offs to journalists.
Help break the administration of its nasty propaganda habit:
1) Tell your members of Congress to call for a top-to-bottom investigation of the Education Department's contract and all similar schemes at other federal agencies. Tell them this isn't about right and left, it's about right and wrong.
2) Demand that the Department of Education do everything it can to get back the $240,000 it paid to Armstrong Williams. Remind Department officials that you paid your taxes in good faith to fund educational programs for the children in your community, not to pay for propaganda.
There's plenty of blame to go around, but our tax dollars are another matter. President Bush has underfunded No Child Left Behind by billions each year since it passed. Meanwhile, his administration has spent large sums on propaganda intended to be fed to us as real news. They even spent our tax dollars to produce ratings of how truly independent news organizations were covering Bush's programs and policies.
Help restore accountability, ethics and financial sanity to our government. Write Congress and demand that they get tough with the Bush administration. Americans shouldn't have to get their news wondering, "How much did the government pay them to say that?"
