|
Washington, D.C. - Congressman Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) today blasted Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee for voting against his amendment that would have stopped the White House and federal agencies from secretly hiring journalists to favorably report on Administration policies and pass it off to the public as real news. Hinchey's amendment to the Transportation, Treasury, HUD Appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2006, which he offered today before the full Appropriations Committee would have prohibited the federal government from entering into any contracts with journalists unless the "fake news" piece clearly states that it is government-produced. The amendment was defeated along party lines by a vote of 34-25.
"By voting to allow secret contracts between federal agencies and journalists, Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee are allowing for this and future administrations to manipulate the media in order to promote its policies. It is absurd," Hinchey said. "It seems like every week a new story comes out about a federal agency covertly paying journalists to report on administration policies and pretending that it is real news. We cannot allow this to go on. This is about truth in advertising. The taxpayers deserve to know when these expenditures are being made, and more so, they deserve to know when they are not receiving truly objective reports."
Examples of media manipulation within the Bush Administration are numerous. It was widely reported last year that the U.S. Education Department paid conservative commentator Armstrong Williams $241,000 to promote President Bush's education policy. Also, columnist Maggie Gallagher received $21,500 from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to work on the president's marriage initiative. Neither of those individuals informed the public that they were under federal contract. More recently, it was reported that the National Resource Conservation Service paid a freelance writer at least $7,500 to write articles touting federal conservation programs and place them in outdoors magazines. Three articles were placed and not one disclosed the fact that the writer was under federal contract.
"While the Bush Administration may have been embarrassed by these contracts, the agencies knew what they were doing when they hired Mr. Armstrong and Ms. Gallagher and I am certain that future contracts with journalists are in place or being considered. Congress needs to step in to ensure this doesn't happen again," Hinchey said. "By voting down my amendment the Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee presented an invitation to this and future administrations to just blast this country with fake news that is propaganda. That's not what this country is all about. We must maintain the integrity of the American media."
Hinchey vowed to bring his amendment back up for a vote before the full House when the Transportation, Treasury, HUD Appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2006 comes to the floor. Hinchey is the chair of the congressional Future of American Media Caucus, which is a non-partisan organization that seeks to educate members of Congress on media policy and legislation.
|
