Thu Jun 30, 2005 03:18 PM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives approved a provision on Thursday designed to bar government agencies for one year from hiring journalists and public-relations firms to secretly tout policies as news.
Lawmakers agreed by voice vote to toughen the law on government publicity and propaganda after the Bush administration came under fire for paying media commentators like Armstrong Williams, who spoke out repeatedly in favor of the president's education policies.Earlier this year Congress also required government agencies to clearly identify themselves on video news releases they make and distribute to broadcasters. The new amendment, attached to an annual spending bill and sponsored by New York Democratic Rep. Maurice Hinchey, would bar agencies from hiring private contractors to promote policies as news.
Because the measure is attached to a spending bill, the provision would last only one year, starting Oct. 1, if it becomes law."A properly functioning democracy depends on a news media that is free of any conflicts-of-interest, especially with the government that it is supposed to be holding accountable," Hinchey said in a statement. The provision would have to be adopted in the Senate and President Bush would have to sign it before it could become law.
© Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved.
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