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> http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBCWQQYY3E.html
>
> FCC Chair Orders Investigation Into Williams' Deal With Bush
Administration
>
> By Genaro C. Armas Associated Press Writer
> Published: Jan 14, 2005
>
> WASHINGTON (AP) - The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission
ordered an investigation Friday into whether conservative commentator
Armstrong Williams broke the law by failing to disclose he was paid by the
Bush administration to plug the president's education agenda.
> The investigation relates to provisions that require disclosure of such
arrangements, FCC Chairman Michael Powell said in a brief statement.
>
> Also Friday, two Democratic senators asked the Government Accountability
Office, Congress' investigative arm, to review whether any other federal
agencies have paid commentators to support the administration's agenda.
>
> Sens. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., asked the Government
Accountability Office to investigate whether the Education Department's
payment to Williams violated a ban on propaganda - and, if so, to determine
who should be held accountable.
>
> "There are real questions whether this is a real expenditure," Dorgan said
in an interview. "This has all the makings of political payola."
>
> The FCC and GAO probes are the latest in a growing controversy over
Williams' deal with the Education Department to promote the No Child Left
Behind Act.
>
> Williams was paid $240,000 as part of at least a $1.3 million commitment
the department had with a public relations firm, Ketchum. Williams produced
ads with Education Secretary Rod Paige to promote the controversial law.
>
> He was also hired to provide media time to Paige and to persuade other
blacks in media to talk about the sweeping education reforms, records show.
>
> On Thursday, Paige announced his department had opened an internal review.
Democratic and Republican members of a Senate panel that oversees education
funding demanded department records related to the case.
>
> President Bush, in an interview published Friday in USA Today, said, "The
Cabinet needs to take a good look and make sure this kind of thing doesn't
happen again."
>
> The announcement from Powell, a Republican, came as FCC officials said
thousands of complaints had come into the agency regarding Williams. No
precise number was available Friday. Free Press, a media reform advocacy
group, had said it was forwarding more than 12,000 complaints to the FCC.
>
> "In this era of huge corporate media, it is becoming harder and harder to
tell the difference between news and entertainment, to differentiate between
information and propaganda," FCC Commissioner Michael Copps, a Democrat,
said Friday.
>
> An investigation could also extend to the stations that carried the
program if the broadcaster knew of Williams' arrangement but did not make
that clear to viewers, FCC officials have said.
>
> Powell on Friday also ordered 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.
>
> Critics contend that incident and the Williams case are similar because
they may be violations of so-called "payola" statutes.
>
> The law requires disclosure of any payment or gift for airing any material
for broadcast, such as a radio disc jockey being paid to play a particular
recording.
>
> In the request to the GAO, Dorgan and Wyden also asked for a
government-wide review of any payments to journalists, commentators or talk
show hosts to promote the administration's policies.
>
> ---
>
> Associated Press writer Ben Feller contributed to this report.
>
> ---
>
> On the Net:
>
> FCC payola information page: http://www.fcc.gov/eb/broadcast/sponsid.html
>
> AP-ES-01-14-05 1747EST