EDITORIAL – Stop showing journalists the money

President George W. Bush said there “needs to be a nice, independent relationship between the… President George W. Bush said there “needs to be a nice, independent relationship between the White House and the press, the administration and the press.” There’s nothing wrong with wanting a “nice, independent relationship,” but it’s not a statement the president should have to make to anyone. It’s just the way things should work.

Yesterday, Bush ordered his Cabinet secretaries — ah, the President advising his advisers — not to hire columnists to promote their agendas. This mandate came after a second writer was paid to publicize an administrative initiative.

Maggie Gallagher, a syndicated columnist, apologized to readers for not disclosing a $21,500 contract with the Health and Human Services Department to help promote the agency’s $300 million initiative to encourage marriage.

In 2002, Gallagher contributed to an essay promoting marriage that appeared in Crisis magazine — a publication dealing with politics, culture and the church — under the byline of Wade Horn, the HHS assistant secretary for children and families.

Gallagher said she should have disclosed having a government contract, and she would have if she had remembered it.

Oh, Ms. Gallagher, there are few journalists who can forget an extra $21,500 floating around in their bank accounts. That sorry excuse makes you a little less credible. And your participation in government puppet shows via media and journalism not only jeopardizes the integrity of the press, but also of your work.

Although Gallagher holds that she was not paid to promote the president’s healthy-marriage initiative, her description of what she was paid to do does not help her case at all. She argues that she was hired to “produce particular research and writing products” such as articles, brochures and presentations. If she were really about the business of journalism, she’d have been hired to produce research and writing products — all of it, not just the particulars. That particular side of “news and information” is considered public relations, and perhaps HHS should hire her for that.

At least Gallagher is not alone. Commentator and columnist Armstrong Williams was paid $240,000 to promote the policies of the Department of Education. There is currently an investigation into whether Williams should have disclosed his deal to produce television and radio ads promoting the No Child Left Behind Act. That needs to be investigated?

Washington, D.C., — like any political hot spot — is a deal town. There are backscratchers who are just waiting for their turn to be scratched, and then there are backstabbers. It’s not too hard to draw the line between a favor and a payment. Regardless of that distinction, journalists should refrain from accepting either.

Bush noted that the administration’s agendas “ought to be able to stand on [their] own two feet.” They should, and so should the work of journalists.

That said, The Pitt News was not paid a red cent to write this editorial.