Free Republic

Armstrong Williams was castigated in the Press for taking advertising money to advocate a program he was already advocating. The crime? He didn't "disclose" his financial "relationship" with the Education Department. So why is it that the Press can discuss the shield law in a manner that can only be described as ADVOCATING it, without disclosing "Oh by the way, we reporters and anchorpeople who are reporting this? We're the major beneficiaries of this law. This law is seeking to give us an exemption that other Americans don't have. This law won't for example protect bloggers...just us." Personally, I think...

July 4th is more than a time to celebrate America’s birthday by grilling hot dogs and buying on credit. It is an opportunity to reflect upon the deeds of our founding fathers and to consider the means by which we might continue to guard those essential freedoms that we associate with happiness. Over two centuries ago, these men sacrificed their lives, their families, their homes to create conditions by which every American has a chance to better himself, to determine his own fate, to pursue happiness on his own terms, and most importantly, or simply to be left alone. In...

Throughout Europe, people are standing idly by as Muslim women are being murdered for having the audacity to date, or to not wear their head scarves outside, or to yearn for a life outside of the home. The problem is most pronounced in Germany. Last month six German women were murdered by their Muslim families for flirting with Western culture. Most recently, Hatin Surucu, a twenty-three-year-old Turkish woman who had been forced into marrying her cousin at age 16, was gunned down at a German bus stop. The attack had been planned. The motive-- Surucu had divorced her husband, discarded...

Scandal-stung Bee columnist talks to SN&R Diana Griego Erwin says she never made anyone up, criticizes the American journalism ‘witch hunt’ By Jeffrey M. Barker Diana Griego Erwin says she didn’t put this T-shirt on specifically because a reporter would be coming over to interview her. But as I am invited into her McKinley Park-area home, her white top is the first thing I notice. Its pink lettering reads: “Speak freely, while you still can.” The irony of the phrase will become increasingly apparent over the course of the morning. I’ve come here armed with a Manila folder packed with...

Newspaper Columnist Resigns After Inquiry The Sacramento Bee says Diana Griego Erwin could not confirm the identities of her sources. The writer says she did nothing wrong. By James Rainey Times Staff Writer May 13, 2005 The Sacramento Bee announced Thursday the resignation of an award-winning columnist, the latest in a series of cases across the nation in which journalists had been forced from their jobs because of questions about the veracity of their reporting. In an explanation to readers, Bee Executive Editor Rick Rodriguez wrote that Diana Griego Erwin could not adequately answer questions that first arose last month...

Rick Rodriguez: Griego Erwin resigns amid internal inquiry into her columns By Rick Rodriguez -- Bee Executive Editor Published 2:15 am PDT Thursday, May 12, 2005 Diana Griego Erwin, whose column has appeared in this space three days a week, resigned Wednesday amid an internal inquiry into whether some people mentioned in several recent columns actually existed. During our inquiry we found we could not authenticate the existence of several people even though they were identified by name, age and sometimes by the neighborhoods in which they were reported to have lived. We used extensive online database searches as well...

In the past, U.N. agencies have also sponsored "traveling seminars" for journalists so they write positive stories about U.N. projects. When conservative commentator Armstrong Williams was exposed for taking money from the Bush administration, his credibility was cast into doubt and news organizations expressed regrets for having had him on the air to comment on public policy issues. Williams was tainted by a conflict of interest that should have been revealed to the viewing audience. He was said to be a channel for Bush administration propaganda.

Federal Probe: Pundit Hire Not Unethical Education Department Probe: Hiring of Pundit Not Illegal or Unethical, but Showed Poor Judgment By BEN FELLER The Associated Press Apr. 16, 2005 - The Bush administration's hiring of a pundit to tout its education agenda was not illegal or unethical, but it was a poor decision and continued even after concerns were raised to the White House, an internal investigation found. The report by the Education Department's inspector general cited a pattern of blunders that led to the $240,000 contract with conservative commentator Armstrong Williams. Senior officials showed poor management, information didn't...

Congressional investigators will look into whether the Bush administration violated any laws when it paid syndicated columnist Maggie Gallagher to help promote a marriage initiative, Democratic Sens. Edward Kennedy and Frank Lautenberg said. The Government Accountability Office told the two senators, who had requested the inquiry, that it would investigate in a letter sent to their offices late Thursday. The GAO, the investigative arm of Congress, is already looking into the Education Department's relationship with several public relations firms, which includes the agency's $240,000 contract with syndicated columnist and TV personality Armstrong Williams. The Education Department had hired Williams to...

The advent of CNN and the 24-hour news cycle has created tremendous pressure on the print media to fill their pages with something—anything—to keep the readers coming back. Amid this brutal competition, high mindedness is often an afterthought. The question became how to grasp the attention of this fractured audience. If there aren’t any good stories to report, make one up--create the news, print a few salacious details, anything to fill your pages and shock readers into paying attention. I believe this is what Historian Daniel J. Boorstin dolefully referred to as a pseudo event—the act of creating news just...

Post Mortem The Washington Post catches the Star with its pants down -- and it ain't pretty. AS TOLD TO TONY ORTEGA While the Strip was on a brief vacation, sunning its meaty goodness half a world away, loyal readers kept us abreast of the hometown news by e-mail. That's how we first learned about one of the most embarrassing episodes for this town's major daily newspaper. If you missed it, we don't blame you. The Kansas City Star didn't draw much attention to its gaffe. Only an eagle-eyed reader might have noticed that there was anything unusual about political...

Armstrong Williams, the conservative commentator embroiled in controversy after being paid to promote Bush administration policies, has signed a contract to be a co-host of a daily radio talk show in New York. The three-hour show, "Drive Time Dialogue," will begin on March 15 on WWRL, 1600 AM. Broadcasting from a studio installed in his Capitol Hill offices, Mr. Williams will present the conservative point of view. He will be countered by Sam Greenfield, as the liberal voice, from New York. Adriane Gaines, the general manager of WWRL, said Mr. Williams was hired as part of an effort to "bring...

Big business religion Armstrong Williams February 27, 2005 Corporations and parishioners are increasingly coming together to spread the word of God and make money. All across the country churches—once intimate places of spiritual interconnectedness—have been replaced by stadiums of worship that utilize advanced technological innovations to awe, edify, and rip off those in attendance. The jig goes something like this: Corporations underwrite the construction of vast religious complexes that awe people into regular attendance. The preacher’s image is projected onto a big screen. His calm baritone is beamed out by state of the art speakers. From all sides, his voice...

A journalistic scandal involving payment of thousands of dollars has received massive attention in the mainstream media. One concerning the exchange of 30 pieces of silver has not, so far. In January and early February, four American journalists came under fire to various degrees, as indicated by the number of Lexis-Nexis mentions during the month beginning Jan. 8: Armstrong Williams, 1,133; Maggie Gallagher, 238; Michael McManus, 43; Eason Jordan, 12. Let's start with conservative columnist Williams, who found himself in trouble after news reports revealed he quietly took $241,000 from the U.S. Department of Education to promote its policies on...

I'm herewith resigning as a member of the liberal media elite. I'm joining up with the conservative media elite. They get paid better. First comes news that Armstrong Williams got nearly a quarter of a million from the Education Department to plug No Child Left Behind. The families of soldiers killed in Iraq get a paltry $12,000. But good publicity? Priceless.

NEW YORK Maggie Gallagher released a statement this afternoon taking issue with aspects of the Washington Post article by Howard Kurtz that today broke the news that she received $21,500 from the Department of Health and Human Services for marriage-themed writing projects. She called one of the Kurtz passages "completely false." Kurtz, after being contacted by E&P, read a rebuttal statement over the phone, in which he said she was attempting to "blame the messenger." Here are Gallagher's comments, followed by Kurtz': "On January 26, 2005, Howard Kurtz of the Washington Post wrote that I 'had a $21,500 contract with...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. WASHINGTON - President Bush on Wednesday ordered his Cabinet secretaries not to hire columnists to promote their agendas after disclosure that a second writer was paid to tout an administration initiative. The president said he expects his agency heads will "make sure that that practice doesn't go forward." "All our Cabinet secretaries must realize that we will not be paying commentators to advance our agenda. Our agenda ought to be able to stand on its own two feet," Bush said at a news conference. Bush's remarks came a day after syndicated...

The fact is, I run a small business. I am CEO and manage the syndication and advertising for my television show. In between juggling my commentaries and media appearances, I stepped over the line. This has never happened before. In fact, my company has never worked on a government contract. Nor have we ever received compensation for an issue that I subsequently reported on. This will never happen again. I now realize that I have to create inseparable boundaries between my role as a small businessman and my role as an independent commentator.

Lee P Butler It did not help the Conservative cause one iota for Armstrong Williams to have accepted a monetary fee for advertising the benefits of the No Child Left Behind program created early in the Bush administration and implemented by the Department of Education. In his own words he acknowledged that fact by saying, "I understand that I exercised bad judgment in running paid advertising for an issue that I frequently write about in my column." He further explained that, "People must be able to trust that my commentary is unbiased. Please know that I supported school vouchers long...

Armstrong Williams' poor judgment in not revealing being compensated by the Department of Education to promote No Child Left Behind is unfortunate. With his stepping into the line of fire and acknowledging his errors, we'll be able to get this behind us and move on. What impact, if any, will this incident have on the ongoing credibility of black conservatism? Liberals, particularly black liberals, will claim this incident simply confirms what they have known all along. For them, black conservatives by definition are individuals on the make and on the take. In their view, liberalism is coded into black DNA....