Pet Negro Armstrong Williams’ ‘Payola’ Was Part of a Covert Propaganda Campaign
Saturday, January 22, 2005 at 08:13PM
TheSpook

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The disclosure that conservative pundit Armstrong Williams was paid $240,000 while serving as a media “talking head” to help persuade African-Americans to back President Bush’s No Child Left Behind law is part of larger government scheme to blur the line between legitimate news reporting and political propaganda, elected officials and watchdog groups say. “I am appalled to learn that the U.S. Department of Education has apparently used taxpayers dollars to influence public opinion,” Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.), immediate past chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, said in a statement. “… Covert propaganda to influence public opinion is illegal, unethical and dangerous. It violates fundamental principles of open government, it distorts the free press and the public’s right to know.” Last Friday, USA Today published a front-page story that began: “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.” “There is no defense for using taxpayer dollars to pay journalists for ‘fake news’ and favorable coverage of a federal program. It’s a scandalous waste, it’s unethical and it’s wrong,” says Ralph G. Neas, president of People for the American Way, a Washington-based public interest group. “It reminds me of the old ‘payola’ scandals in radio. Armstrong Williams received $240,000 of our tax dollars – yours and mine – to create propaganda for a government program,” he said in a news release.
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Article originally appeared on (http://brownwatch.com/).
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