[Thanks to Darryl Levington for passing this along.]
Dept. of Education Releases Report on Payola Controversy
By Editor & Publisher Staff
Published: September 06, 2005 1:11 PM ET
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001054953
NEW YORK The federal Department of Education secretly paid
education-advocacy groups to produce Op-Ed columns, ads, and other
material, according to a new report issued by the DOE's Inspector General.
This means that former Tribune Media Services (TMS) columnist Armstrong
Williams wasn't the only person writing for newspapers while receiving DOE
money.
The report said The Dallas Morning News, The Sacramento (Calif.) Bee, the
Mobile (Ala.) Register, and The Grand Island (Neb.) Independent were among
the papers that published government-funded Op-Eds whose authors failed to
disclose this financial sponsorship. Separately, the office of Rep. George
Miller (D-Calif.) determined that additional opinion articles ran in papers
such as The New York Sun.
Miller, the senior Democrat on the House Education and the Workforce
Committee, requested the Inspector General report in January after it was
revealed that Armstrong Williams -- also a broadcast commentator --
received $240,000 from the DOE to help promote the No Child Left Behind
(NCLB) law. TMS terminated Williams' contract the day it found out about this.
The report notes that Kate Walsh, president of the "National Council on
Teacher Quality," wrote a Nov. 21, 2004, piece for the Mobile Register; a
Dec. 2, 2004, piece for the Grand Island Independent; and a Feb. 6, 2005,
piece for the Sacramento Bee. (The last one was after the Williams
revelations.) The first column supported NCLB, and the next two discussed
teacher qualifications and merit pay. None of them disclosed the DOE
connection.
Also, the report said Marcela Garcini, director of parent outreach for the
"Hispanic Council for Reform and Educational Options," wrote columns for
The Dallas Morning News in August and October 2004.
The Inspector General said the paid-for material does not constitute covert
propaganda because the DOE would have to willingly mislead the public.
But Miller disagrees with that assessment. "The department is trying to
define itself out of trouble by setting the bar very high for what
constitutes covert propaganda," Miller said in a statement. "But on
multiple occasions, education groups used taxpayer money -- unbeknownst to
taxpayers -- to promote controversial federal policies. The department
allowed this egregious use of taxpayer dollars to continue with such
consistency that it cannot now claim that it was ignorant of the practice.
Either the department is grossly incompetent when it comes to awarding
grants and contracts, or it is misleading investigators and engaging in a
cover up."
The Inspector General did conclude that it was improper for organizations
to use DOE grant money to produce and disseminate public materials without
including a disclaimer about funding, and said the appropriate course of
action is to recover grant monies paid to these groups.
Link to text of report:
http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/oig/aireports/i13f0012.doc
================================
George Antunes, Political Science Dept
University of Houston; Houston, TX 77204
Voice: 713-743-3923 Fax: 713-743-3927
antunes at uh dot edu
--
No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Anti-Virus.
Version: 7.0.344 / Virus Database: 267.10.18/90 - Release Date: 9/5/2005
Reply with a "Thank you" if you liked this post.
_______________________________________________
MEDIANEWS mailing list
[email protected]
To unsubscribe send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
