Pile On... NYT: "Buying of News by Bush's Aides Is Ruled Illegal "

[npincus]

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/01/politics/01educ.html

HOT OFF THE PRESS: an above-the-fold NYT page 1 story on yet more illegal, unethical conduct by the administration that promised to "bring integrity back to the White House"...*snicker* *snicker*...



WASHINGTON, Sept. 30 - Federal auditors said on Friday that the Bush administration violated the law by buying favorable news coverage of President Bush's education policies, by making payments to the conservative commentator Armstrong Williams and by hiring a public relations company to analyze media perceptions of the Republican Party.

In a blistering report, the investigators, from the Government Accountability Office, said the administration had disseminated "covert propaganda" in the United States, in violation of a statutory ban.

Lawyers from the accountability office, an independent nonpartisan arm of Congress, found that the administration systematically analyzed news articles to see if they carried the message, "The Bush administration/the G.O.P. is committed to education."

<snip>

The ruling comes with no penalty, but under federal law the department is supposed to report the violations to the White House and Congress.


Let's see if the MSM covers this one.

[willing dwarf]

1. This is good but...

They give with one hand, take away with the other. Even if they can't "buy" their positive coverage, they've positioned themselves to rule public opinion by installing their shills in the halls of Public Broadcasting. Have you gotten a look at Cheryl F. Halpern, new chair of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting?

Who needs to buy the news when you own the medium?

[renie408]

3. I wonder if that's why

my husband has been freaking out over NPR lately. He keeps telling me that he would swear they are no longer unbiased that their stories and coverage lean right. I listen to XM and AAR, so I haven't noticed.

[renie408]

4. No, it would be because of Tomlinson

who was just as bad or worse. She just got appointed, Tomlinson would account for the swing in NPR coverage.

[nashville_brook]

14. i've noticed Terry Gross is absent a lot

and abundant think-tank-gobbledygook on atc and morning edition.

i think you can be an "active listener" with npr and sort the good and bad -- meaning there's still some good -- but there's more gatekeeping lately, for sure.

[Democrat 4 Ever]

5. But they can't control the "Internets" and that is how the news will

be gotten out to people without MSM's help. I wish that all of the networks would honestly cover this administration but they aren't going to unless the whole bunch jumps off the money train together. Don't see that happening any time soon. Too much money (and that is their love above all else) had taken honest, independent news outlets away and turn them into propaganda machines for sell to the highest bidder. In their place has sprung up people who will work to get the real news out by any means possible. There have always been a quest for truth, that is why throughout history secret publishings, meetings, passing word of mouth has played a major part during times of social unrest and inequality. The internet equates a strong rebellion that the neocons can't stop.

When PNAC and their flunky Rove came up with the plan to control the country with neocons purchasing media outlets and then intimidating into to submission I think they "misunderestimated" the impact of what could be done with thousands of citizen soldiers who refused to lock step along with him and had access to the entire world through the fingertips.

We will always have to fight the sheeple - after all there were Americans who were supporting England during the American Revolution, people who stood up for Hitler when he was attempting to wipe out an entire race of people, and "morans" just like the bunch who make up the republican party today who value loyalty over competency any day and will fight to the death before admitting the corruption within their ranks.

But they can't stop the news from getting out.

[madrchsod]

2. what about miller being on the "payroll"

i guess she doesn`t count. i really like all the concern by others that her "imprisonment" leading to complete censorship of reporters and making criminals of them in interviewing certain people. the blame for all this lies with miller and her paper.

[usregimechange]

6. Kick, mediablast and nominate

[usregimechange]

7. I think this should be on the front page, lets nominate, kick

[OneGrassRoot]

8. kicked and nominated n/t

[CTD]

9. Ironic considering the propaganda mouthpiece on their payroll

...pictured just to the right of this article.

She likely owes her career to her source (Libby). Remember she reported the false WMD claims as fact and won awards for the reporting. Her refusal to testify had more to do with her career than with journaistic ethics. If her source goes down, not only does she not have that inside information, but she is exposed as the patsy she is.

[npincus]

10. agreed

when the indictments drop, perhaps much of this will come to light and the NYT will own up to her involovement in the misinformation campaign.

But I don't believe this was any conspiracy at the management level in the NYT, and they will bejust as disheartened and embarrassed by this story as it unfolds.

[kster]

12. Unless Fitzgerald

put her behind bars, because he felt it was the only way to keep her alive. If she (Miller) was that one piece in the puzzle,that if suicided would throw the whole case, With these thugs I could see Fitzgerald doing it, and Miller agreeing to it. Just a thought.

[The Backlash Cometh]

11. A crime without penalties. There's the problem right there. n/t

[Name removed]

13. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[SillyGoose]

15. Glad to see this important story covered by a mainstream media

outlet.

(nominated)

[PurityOfEssence]

16. Yeah, and the New York Times has the invoices to prove it!

These guys might as well have been wearing marching band uniforms with shakos and all for the parade they led. Sure, some of the pre-war lies were gratis, since they'd help Israel and stomp Hussein, but they were a big part of the lie.

Damn that liberal media!

[renate]

17. It's revealing that the headline says "by Bush's aides"

rather than "by staffers in the Education Department."
The headline writer and editor totally didn't have to bring Bush's name into it that way, but they did.
:woohoo:
(P.S. I thought it was "Department of Education," not "Education Department"--but the NYT proof readers know what they're doing.)

[npincus]

18. Not only that, the Caption below this headline reads "Covert Propaganda

Seen"- or something like that (I left my NYT in my car so don't have it here.

Pretty damned upfront and incriminating. NYT is not mincing words.

Also (my opinion), the placement of the article, the upper left corner, speaks of the importance of the story; because people read from left to right, I think that's where the eye hits first.