Hightower Lowdown

The media payola scandal keeps growing. First it was Armstrong Williams, the right-wing commentator who got caught taking $240,000 from the U.S. Department of Education to shill for George W's "No Child Left Behind" education law. "Just a bad apple," said The Powers That Be.

Then came news that Maggie Gallagher, another right-wing commentator, pocketed some $40,000 from the government to shill for Bush's "strengthening marriage" program. Now we learn that Michael McManus also was on the government payroll while writing golden reviews of the marriage program in his column, which, ironically, is titled "Ethics & Religion." These faux-journalists have been roundly castigated for thumbing their noses at journalistic ethics.

But wait a minute. It takes two to play the payola game —the corrupters as well as the corruptees. Bush & Company are using your and my tax dollars to pay the media to propagandize you and me. Who are the officials diverting our tax funds into propaganda? Which Bush operative devised this system? And why aren't all of these Bushites being publicly castigated...and fired?

George now says his government will no longer pay journalists. But we also need to stop their surreptitious deployment of VNRs— video news releases— which are "news" stories prepared by Bush officials and narrated by actors posing as reporters. They appear on hundreds of TV stations reaching millions of households.

To help stop Bush's covert propaganda program, call The Center for Media and Democracy: 608-260-9713.