There was a bit of a flap awhile back about the admin commissioning pseudo news reports to support and tout its Medicare program. People were upset that tax dollars were being used for partisan political purposes. The GAO called it illegal.
The response was apparently to find new and more effective ways of doing the same thing.
Quote:
Seeking to build support among black families for its education reform law, the Bush administration paid a prominent black pundit $240,000 to promote the law on his nationally syndicated television show and to urge other black journalists to do the same.
The campaign, part of an effort to promote No Child Left Behind (NCLB), required commentator Armstrong Williams "to regularly comment on NCLB during the course of his broadcasts," and to interview Education Secretary Rod Paige for TV and radio spots that aired during the show in 2004.
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http://www.usatoday.com/news/washing...itehouse_x.htm
