Payola for the right wing "commentators" as they go on a witch hunt at CBS.
What hypocrites.
FCC Member Urges Armstrong Williams Probe
By GENARO ARMAS, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - A member of the Federal Communications Commission (news - web sites) said Thursday the agency should investigate whether conservative commentator Armstrong Williams broke the law by failing to disclose that the Bush administration paid him $240,000 to plug its education policies.
Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein, a Democrat, said the agency has received about a dozen complaints against Williams.
"I certainly hope the FCC (news - web sites) will take action and fully investigate whether any laws have been broken," Adelstein said at the commission's regular monthly meeting.
Williams said that neither he nor any of the stations that carried his syndicated program violated the law because two one-minute ads that aired during the show, and that also promoted the law, specifically stated they were paid for by the Education Department.
"I was not engaged in any public relations in this campaign. It was strictly advertising," Williams said by phone. "I'm not concerned about this witchhunt because I know that I've done nothing wrong, nothing illegal."
None of the other commissioners responded to Adelstein's statement during the meeting. Afterward, both FCC Chairman Michael Powell, a Republican, and David Solomon, who heads the agency's enforcement bureau, declined to comment.
Generally, the FCC reviews letters and complaints before determining if there should be an investigation. Powell said he had not seen the complaints filed against Williams.
Williams, a nationally syndicated radio, print and television personality, was paid by the Education Department to promote the No Child Left Behind Act. The contract required Williams' company to produce radio and TV ads that promote the controversial law and feature one-minute "reads" by Education Secretary Rod Paige.
The deal also allowed Paige and other department officials to appear as studio guests with Williams.
Adelstein also called on the FCC to investigate a radio station programmer in Buffalo, N.Y. who was fired by Entercom Communications Corp. for breaking the station's rules against taking gifts from business contacts. He said it may be part of a recent increase in so-called "payola" violations.
Specifically, Adelstein said the Buffalo case and Williams' contract could be possible violations of federal telecommunication law that requires disclosure of any payment or gift for airing any material for broadcast, like a radio disc jockey being paid to play a particular recording.
An investigation could also extend to the stations that carried the program if the broadcaster knew in advance of Williams' arrangement but did not make that clear to viewers, aides to Adelstein said.
What hypocrites.
FCC Member Urges Armstrong Williams Probe
By GENARO ARMAS, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - A member of the Federal Communications Commission (news - web sites) said Thursday the agency should investigate whether conservative commentator Armstrong Williams broke the law by failing to disclose that the Bush administration paid him $240,000 to plug its education policies.
Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein, a Democrat, said the agency has received about a dozen complaints against Williams.
"I certainly hope the FCC (news - web sites) will take action and fully investigate whether any laws have been broken," Adelstein said at the commission's regular monthly meeting.
Williams said that neither he nor any of the stations that carried his syndicated program violated the law because two one-minute ads that aired during the show, and that also promoted the law, specifically stated they were paid for by the Education Department.
"I was not engaged in any public relations in this campaign. It was strictly advertising," Williams said by phone. "I'm not concerned about this witchhunt because I know that I've done nothing wrong, nothing illegal."
None of the other commissioners responded to Adelstein's statement during the meeting. Afterward, both FCC Chairman Michael Powell, a Republican, and David Solomon, who heads the agency's enforcement bureau, declined to comment.
Generally, the FCC reviews letters and complaints before determining if there should be an investigation. Powell said he had not seen the complaints filed against Williams.
Williams, a nationally syndicated radio, print and television personality, was paid by the Education Department to promote the No Child Left Behind Act. The contract required Williams' company to produce radio and TV ads that promote the controversial law and feature one-minute "reads" by Education Secretary Rod Paige.
The deal also allowed Paige and other department officials to appear as studio guests with Williams.
Adelstein also called on the FCC to investigate a radio station programmer in Buffalo, N.Y. who was fired by Entercom Communications Corp. for breaking the station's rules against taking gifts from business contacts. He said it may be part of a recent increase in so-called "payola" violations.
Specifically, Adelstein said the Buffalo case and Williams' contract could be possible violations of federal telecommunication law that requires disclosure of any payment or gift for airing any material for broadcast, like a radio disc jockey being paid to play a particular recording.
An investigation could also extend to the stations that carried the program if the broadcaster knew in advance of Williams' arrangement but did not make that clear to viewers, aides to Adelstein said.
