The best news coverage money can buy ….

On 7 January 2005, it was disclosed that Conservative pundit Armstrong Williams, one of the Bush administration’s most vocal supporters, really isn’t as blind as I thought he was. Silly me. He’s not a foolish true believer; he’s just a “capitalist. All those appearances in print and on television touting the brilliance and effectiveness of the No Child Left Behind Act weren’t due to personal enthusiasm, it turns out. Far from it. Mr. Williams received $240,000 from the Department Of Education “to deliver positive messages” about Bush’s policies.

From CNN.com:
The contract required Williams’ company, the Graham Williams Group, to produce radio and TV ads that feature one-minute “reads” by Education Secretary Rod Paige. The deal also allowed Paige and other department officials to appear as studio guests with Williams.

Williams, one of the leading black conservative voices in the country, was also to use his influence with other black journalists to get them to talk about No Child Left Behind.

The ethics violation is clear. I remember a not so distant past when hard news publications and television news magazines prided themselves on never paying for a story. It was that line in the sand which separated “60 Minutes” from “Hard Copy,” Time Magazine from The Enquirer. Back when journalistic integrity mattered, any self-respecting columnist or producer would come out swinging at the suggestion that coverage could be bought. And the mainline media proudly paid the price by passing up stories from insiders interested in making a buck.

But not any more.

Now the only question remaining is this: did the Bush administration commit bribery, or did Armstrong commit extortion?

We have no way of knowing. The silence from the Right is deafening. Where is the outrage from the opponents of the “Biased Liberal Media?” You want to throw rocks, boys? You can’t take down CBS for fact-checking blunders while giving payola a free pass.

It doesn’t work that way.

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