An explosive combination
Potassium nitrate, charcoal, and sulfur by themselves are relatively harmless chemicals. However, when combined in the right proportion, they create gunpowder.
A similarly explosive combination of advertising, advocacy, and journalism is rocking Washington, D.C., right now.
Armstrong Williams, a nationally syndicated columnist and media personality, recently divulged that the Dept. of Education paid him $240,000 to promote the Bush administration’s No Child Left Behind (NCLB) policies. This brouhaha is about a media personality masking advocacy and advertising as journalism — all while accepting taxpayers’ money to do it.
This is a rare case where the client, public relations firm, and media were all in cahoots — purposefully or not, it doesn’t matter — to achieve a specific goal. Advertising, advocacy, and journalism have separate, distinct, and important roles in the marketplace of ideas. Let’s keep them that way.
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