The Bush administration has promoted its education law with a video
that comes across as a news story but fails to make clear the reporter
involved was paid with taxpayer money. The government used a similar
approach this year in promoting the new Medicare law and drew a rebuke
from the investigative arm of Congress, which found the videos amounted
to propaganda in violation of federal law. The Education Department
also has paid for rankings of newspaper coverage of the No Child Left
Behind law, a centerpiece of the president's domestic agenda. Points
are awarded for stories that say President Bush and the Republican
Party are strong on education, among other factors. The news ratings
also rank individual reporters on how they cover the law, based on the
points system set up by Ketchum, a public relations firm hired by the
government. The video and documents emerged through a Freedom of
Information Act request by People for the American Way, a liberal group
that contends the department is spending public money on a political
agenda. The group sought details on a $700,000 contract Ketchum
received in 2003 from the Education Department. [more ]
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