Pundit payola: accidental propagandists.

• Author: Welch, Matt
• Position: Armstrong Williams, Department of Education, public relations - Brief Article

On January 7, 2005, USA Today revealed that the Department of Education had paid television and radio personality Armstrong Williams more than $240,000 to, among other things, "regularly comment on [the No Child Left Behind Act] during the course of his broadcasts." Which he dutifully did, though without disclosing his government paycheck. After the discovery, a series of similar pundit payola revelations briefly made the news, and Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) demanded that the department's inspector general conduct an investigation into nearly $5 million of the agency's public relations spending.

The inspector general's report, which came out in early September, concluded that "none of the grants resulted in covert propaganda." But that conclusion was based on the premise that the department didn't necessarily realize that the bought-off journalists would not add disclaimers to their discussions. In 10 of 11 cases studied, there were no disclaimers.

The Education Department wasn't exactly counting every last dime either. According to USA Today's follow-up report, "More...