[Peace] Tell Congress to Investigate and Outlaw Payola Pundits

[Josh Silver, Exec. Director]

Dear Media Reformer:

"Payola pundit" Armstrong Williams -- who secretly took taxpayer money to promote the No Child Left Behind Act -- wasn't alone. 
Journalists have uncovered Bush administration payments to two other columnists who signed contracts to promote the president's "marriage initiative."

How 
many more are out there? How can we stop this disgraceful practice?

We must urge Congress to put an end to covert government propaganda. 

Call your 
senators and representative today to demand investigations and support new legislation to ban taxpayer-funded propaganda. Go to www.freepress.net/act/nopayola 
now.

The White House is manipulating public opinion and media companies are letting it happen. Thousands of letters from people like you pushed FCC 
Chairman Michael Powell to launch an official investigation into payola. But as the scandal grows, so must our efforts to root out all of the payola pundits 
and prevent these hidden deals from happening again.

It's time to get some answers: How many journalists are on the government payroll? Who approved 
the spending of public funds on political propaganda? How much money was actually spent? What's being done to protect the public?

A report by the Minority 
Office of the House Committee on Government Reform shows that the Bush administration more than doubled spending on PR compared to the Clinton administration 
-- including at least $88 million in 2004. Most of this money was doled out in no-bid contracts to firms like Ketchum Public Relations, which hired Armstrong 
Williams.

But the White House propaganda mill goes beyond the use of payola pundits. The administration has distributed phony news stories to local 
television stations trumpeting Bush's policies on Medicare and the war on drugs. Now they are using official government documents sent to millions of workers 
to push the president's plan to dismantle Social Security.

Congress needs to ensure that your tax dollars aren't being used to manipulate American citizens. 
They also must hold media companies and pundits accountable. Contact your senators and representative right now and ask them to:


1. Conduct congressional 
hearings on payola propaganda.

2. Support the "Federal Propaganda Prohibition Act of 2005" in the House and the "Stop Government Propaganda Act" in 
the Senate.

The house bill, introduced by Reps. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) and Jim McDermott (D-Wash.), 
would codify the federal prohibition on covert propaganda, increase congressional oversight of federal PR contracts, and strengthen public disclosure requirements.

The 
Senate bill -- sponsored by Sens. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) and Jon Corzine (D-N.J.) -- would prohibit 
the use of funds by the executive branch for "publicity or propaganda purposes within the United States unless authorized by law."

Ask your legislators 
to co-sponsor these important bills. Call now by going to www.freepress.net/act/nopayola .

Please forward this message to your friends and colleagues.

It 
will take a concerted public effort to keep this scandal from being swept under the rug as the ethical lapse of a few bad apples who simply "forgot to 
mention" their secret contracts.

Let Congress know you won't be hoodwinked any longer.


Onward,

Josh Silver
Executive Director
Free Press

P.S. 
More payola pundits will be exposed: Keep up with breaking news by subscribing to our daily headlines via e-mail at www.freepress.net/news/subscribe.php

--------
You're 
receiving this message as a subscriber of the Free Press E-Activist list. To discontinue receiving messages, please visit www.freepress.net/action/unsub.php 
/*Your email ID. <diaEmailID='6403985'/>--*/
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.chambana.net/mailman/archive/peace/attachments/20050201/c4f2cc5c/attachment.htm