USDA paid freelance writer $7,500 for placing articles

[Roland99]

http://rawstory.com/aexternal/usda_paid_reporter_511

An Agriculture Department agency paid a freelance writer at least $7,500 to write articles touting federal conservation programs and place them in outdoors magazines, according to agency records and interviews, the Washington Post is set to report Wednesday, RAW STORY has learned.

Excerpts:

The Natural Resources Conservation Service hired freelancer Dave Smith in September 2003 to "research and write articles for hunting and fishing magazines describing the benefits of NRCS Farm Bill programs to wildlife habitat and the environment," according to agency procurement documents obtained by The Washington Post through a Freedom of Information Act request.

Smith, contracted to craft five stories for $1,875 each, also was to "contact and work magazine editors to place the articles in targeted publications," the records show.

Full story slated in Wednesday's Washington Post.

[Kerrytravelers]

1. Again. When are these publications going to question what they print?

[phasev]

6. as long as it remains profitable n/t

[Erika]

2. Bsuh's fascism - control the message

and charge the bill to the taxpayers.

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. my lord ... here we go again

[DeepModem Mom]

4. kick

[struggle4progress]

9. and again

:kick:

[Roland99]

5. Here's the full WaPo article

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/10/AR2005051001593.html

Smith, 38, said yesterday that he wrote five articles for the agency but got only three published before joining the NRCS last year as a biologist in the Missoula, Mont., office. Smith said he was paid between $7,500 and $7,800 on the contract, but the total could have been as much as $9,375.

He said he was working as a biologist for the California Department of Fish and Game in 2003 when an NRCS public relations staffer called to ask him if he would accept the writing assignment.

David Gagner, chief of staff at the NRCS, said the in-house communications staff lacked the expertise to spread the word about how the 2002 farm bill expanded the agency's role in wildlife and environmental conservation.

"At the time we truly didn't think we had somebody who was a good enough expert on these issues, and that type of writer," Gagner said. "We've got a pretty small staff. It's not a big agency."

[warrens]

7. I wonder how many of them actually ran

Most magazines don't take over-the-transom stories with a POV like that. This isn't quite like Armstrong Williams, though. Advocacy groups of all sorts submit articles to publications. That's different than paying the publication, or the radio show, directly to spew propaganda.

Still, if the writer was trying to get paid by the magazine AND by USDA, that's HIGHLY unethical. If they were just paying him to write the articles, then offer them to editors he knew, that's not a high crime.

[Rose Siding]

8. USAToday' version: Ag. Dept. paid journalist for favorable stories

A third federal agency has admitted it paid a journalist to write favorable stories about its work.
Documents released by the Agriculture Department show it paid a freelance writer $9,375 in 2003 to "research and write articles for hunting and fishing magazines describing the benefits of NRCS (Natural Resources Conservation Service) programs."

Three articles by the writer, Dave Smith, appeared late last year in two magazines aimed at hunting and fishing enthusiasts: Outdoor Oklahoma, published by that state's Department of Wildlife Conservation, and Washington-Oregon Game & Fish, published by Primedia.
...
Smith said he did not mention in the stories that he had been paid by NRCS. "I'd already explained to the magazines what the deal was and I thought they would take care of it from there," he said.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-05-10-ag-dept-story_x.htm

Oh. It was the media's fault, just like uber-personally responsible bush said :eyes: