January 07, 2005
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.Black conservatives like myself work day-in and day-out to promote solid and beneficial causes, which have included NCLB, but with one-fell-swoop, Williams has effectively torpedoed much of that work.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.
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.
We constantly come under scrutiny by others from both sides of the aisle, from some conservatives who are wary of our presence, and by many liberals who insist that we are "on the take" or "reaching for scraps from 'Massa's' table." We constantly have to prove that we are not some sort of 'spook sitting by the door' when Armstrong comes along and not only accepts taxpayer money, but doesn't see anything truly wrong with it!
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.""Something he believes in?"
My God! You mean to tell me that if you believe in something, no matter how illegal or wrong it may be, it's OK, because you believe in it!?
If Williams believed in NCLB so much, then he didn't need to be paid to tell folks about it in what was supposed to be a forum of his own opinion.
This calls into question any and all pundits that appear on behalf of the Bush Administration on television, radio and in print across the board. When those on the left call commentators on Fox News into question for being "paid operatives" what sort of defense is there? After all, Armstrong Williams claimed to be his own man, yet was a paid operative of the Bush White House.
Well, I can tell you with complete certainty that the folks that I know and associate with on the right aren't paid by the Administration. On the contrary. If I were, I wouldn't be scraping to get by like everyone else.
Armstrong's entire message becomes suspect as far as I'm concerned, though. And as far as I'm concerned, he becomes "damaged goods" in terms of any sort of conservative black message.
Just damn.
Posted by: mhking at
05:49 AM
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