State-run Media in Bush Admin

[Moses]

Government media bribes must stop

THE ISSUE | Revelations that the Bush administration used taxpayer money to promote its agenda on news shows.

OUR OPINION | These tactics are reprehensible and threaten the freedom of the press guaranteed in the Constitution.

The term "state-run media" is normally associated with nations that control and censor its media outlets such as China and North Korea.

Hopefully that term will not apply to outlets in the United States, but recent actions by the Bush administration should make all of us stand up and take notice.

Last week, it was revealed that the Education Department paid commentator Armstrong Williams $240,000 to promote its education policies to black audiences. The payment was made with taxpayer money.

Williams is a former aide to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and is one of the top black conservative voices in the nation. He hosts "The Right Side" on television and on the radio and is a syndicated columnist.

According to the terms of the agreement, Williams was expected to regularly comment on No Child Left Behind, which aims to raise achievement among poor and minority children, with penalties for schools that don't make progress.

Williams originally said he agreed to the contract because the NCLB is something he believes in. That's fine, and he has every right to use his shows and columns to promote any issue he agrees with.

But he should be doing it of his own free will. The government has no right to intervene and spend public money to manipulate news coverage.

The move has prompted Tribune Media Services to cut its ties with Williams. In its statement, the news service said the agreement at least created the appearance of a conflict of interest.

"Under these circumstances, readers may well ask themselves if the views expressed in his columns are his own, or whether they have been purchased by a third party," the statement said.

We agree.

We also agree with a request by Rep. George Miller of California, the top Democrat on the House Education Committee, who is calling for an investigation to determine whether the deal was legal and ethical. That request has been supported by Rep. John Boehner of Ohio, the Republican chairman of the panel.

There's certainly grounds for such an investigation. The Bush administration has been rapped at least twice by the Government Accountability Office for producing "video news releases" designed to look like news reports to promote its Medicare prescription drug plan and segments about the effects of drug use among young people.

The GAO determined these videos were an illegal use of taxpayer money and also said federal law was violated because the government was not identified as a source of the material.

Freedom of the press is one of the basic principles of the Constitution, and the administration's arrangement with Williams is nothing more than a bribe in order to slant news coverage in favor of its policies.

At the very least, Williams should be made to repay the $240,000. We hope pressure continues to stop what's becoming a pattern of covert propaganda by the Bush administration.

[Moses]

RNC sends threatening letters to broadcasters, implying retaliation if they air opposition advertising

February 5, 2005

RNC asks stations to kill 'false TV ad'

MoveOn.org defends accuracy of Social Security spot.

By JAMES WENSITS
Tribune Political Writer


SOUTH BEND -- At least part of the Social Security debate focused on the 2nd Congressional District again Friday, as the Republican National Committee sent letters to local television stations asking them not to air what it calls a "false TV ad" promoted by MoveOn.org.

Washington, D.C.-based MoveOn.org immediately issued a statement defending the accuracy of its ad, which began airing on local stations Tuesday and which is critical of the president's plan to revamp Social Security.

The RNC letter drew a mixture of responses. One local station executive said he viewed the tone of the letter as "threatening." Another said he planned to investigate a statement in the ad and might decide to pull the spot if he found it to be misleading.

The national ad, titled "Working Retirement," debuted on local stations Tuesday.

"It has come to our attention that your station is currently airing, or may be asked to air, a false advertisement sponsored by a political organization known as MoveOn.org," said the RNC letter sent to local stations on Friday.

"The advertisement in question falsely and maliciously makes reference to 'George Bush's planned Social Security benefit cuts of up to 46 percent to pay for private accounts ...' "

In his State of the Union address, the president said that "Social Security will not change in any way" for Americans 55 and older."

The RNC letter said that "what MoveOn.org calls 'Bush's planned Social Security benefit cuts' is actually a plan that would hold starting Social Security benefits steady in purchasing power, rather than allowing them to nearly double over the next 75 years as they are projected to do under the current benefit formula."

The letter was signed by RNC Deputy Counsel Michael Bayes.

Jim Behling, general manager for WNDU-TV, said he is neither afraid nor cowed by getting a letter from a lawyer at the RNC, but may pull the spot if he determines that it is inaccurate. The ad contract calls for the spot to end its run on Sunday, according to Behling.

"It's about what's fair," said Behling, adding, "If we made the wrong decision based on insufficient information, then we have to correct ourselves."

Behling said he has reviewed documentation supplied by MoveOn.org in support of the ad, and said the 46 percent figure seems to apply to people who will retire in 2075, and therefore haven't yet been born.

He said he plans to ask MoveOn.org if the 46 percent "applies to anybody living today" and, if not, may decide to pull the spot.

According to supporting documents supplied to the stations by MoveOn.org, the plan which serves as the model for the president's proposal would cut benefits because it changes the basis on which benefits would be calculated from wage levels to consumer price levels.

Based on Social Security Administration data, a worker born in 1977 who earned average wages and retired in 2042 would see benefits 26 percent lower than under the current benefit structure, $14,432 a year instead of $19,423 in 2004 dollars. An individual who retired in 2075 would receive monthly benefits 46 percent lower than under the current structure, the documents said.

Tom Matzzie, Washington, D.C., director of MoveOn.org, said in a statement issued Friday that the information referred to in the spot is based on an analysis performed by the chief actuary at the Social Security Administration, and said his organization stands by the ad.

"Instead of threatening TV stations and trying to infringe on the free-speech rights of MoveOn.org," said Matzzie, the administration should "come clean" and explain how big benefit cuts will be for future retirees, how much new debt will be required and how much financial services corporations will profit from the proposal.

Kevin Sargent, vice president and general manager for WSJV-TV, said he viewed the RNC letter as threatening.

The last two paragraphs of the letter said:

"As an FCC licensee, you have a responsibility to exercise independent editorial judgment to oversee and protect the integrity of the American marketplace of ideas, and to avoid broadcasting deliberate misrepresentations of the facts. Such obligations must be taken seriously and I urge you to decline to broadcast this advertisement.

"This letter places you on notice that the information contained in the above-cited advertisement is false and misleading. Your station should act responsibly and refrain from airing this advertisement."

"When a letter says 'this letter places you on notice,' " Sargent said, "that's kind of threatening."

Sargent said the letter didn't say that the RNC intended to go after the station's license, but "that kind of tactic is done to make you think it's possible."

Asked if he planned to pull the ad, Sargent said he had just begun to investigate, noting, "It's Friday afternoon."

Sargent said that in the meanwhile, he did not plan to suspend the ad, which is scheduled to run through Monday.

Todd Schurz, president and general manager of WSBT-TV, said it is not the role of the station to make political judgments, and to do so would be "grossly inappropriate."

"Our role is to be sure that the laws and regulations are followed and that the public has access to its own airwaves," Schurz said.

Schurz said the station began an investigation after receiving the RNC letter Friday afternoon but did not know when it would be completed.

"These things take a little time," Schurz said, adding that there was no intent to suspend the ad in the meantime. The spot is scheduled to run through Monday on WSBT-TV, whose parent company, Schurz Communications, also owns The Tribune.

[Moses]

MoveOn to FactCheck.org

[Moses]

Fake Journalists (who are actually stenographers tied to gay porn) working for Republican Front Orgs, and admitted to the Press Corps, and given access to top secret material. What could exemplify the Republican Party and this Administration more than that?

"Jeff Gannon" of "Talon News". Links here: mediacitizen.blogspot.com/2005/02/gannon-quits-after-blogger-inquiry.html

[Moses]

Background- previous stories re: Jeff Gannon and his propaganda, his admission to the White House on a daily press pass, and his involvement in the Plame investigation

mediamatters.org/items/200501260015