Armstrong Williams Column Axed by TMS

[Buns_of_Fire]

NEW YORK Tribune Media Services (TMS) today terminated its contract with columnist Armstrong Williams, effective immediately. But Williams told E&P tonight that he plans to continue his feature via self-syndication.

TMS' action came after USA Today reported this morning that Williams had accepted $240,000 from the Bush administration to promote the No Child Left Behind education-reform law on his TV and radio shows. E&P subsequently reported that Williams had also written about NCLB in his newspaper column at least four times last year.

In a statement, TMS said: "(A)ccepting compensation in any form from an entity that serves as a subject of his weekly newspaper columns creates, at the very least, the appearance of a conflict of interest. Under these circumstances, readers may well ask themselves if the views expressed in his columns are his own, or whether they have been purchased by a third party." (Full text of the statement is available at the end of this story.)

John Twohey, vice president of editorial and operations at TMS, told E&P tonight that terminating the contract "wasn't a close call" after he and four other senior TMS executives discussed the matter.

more ==> http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000749251

Wonder how far that $240,000 will go?

(Edited to flesh out the excerpt a little...)

[pdxmom]

1. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy

Can't wait to see who will pick up his column. Anyone want to guess which publications would pay for a paid mouthpiece?

[Buns_of_Fire]

3. Probably anything owned by Rupert Murdoch

He's his kinda guy... ::barf::

[Cha]

4. armstrong..bill bennett...

who else was recently busted in the last year or two for being their avarice selves?

On edit..I just thought of bill o'lielly..and, of course, oxyrush.

[pdxmom]

9. The epitomes of Repub. values!

n/t

[trogdor]

26. World Net Daily?

Maybe he can tell us how good a lay Ann Coulter is.

[mitchum]

33. Probably not, since Williams tried to shove his tongue down...

David Brock's throat. A few years ago, Williams also paid a hush hush settlement to a male subordinate.

[DemoTex]

2. Good, oh!

Spot on! Good show.

[Buns_of_Fire]

6. Amazingly FAST, too!

Not that a little payola here and there bothers all these types so much, but it's just downright ungentlemanly to be so OBVIOUS about it!

[MergeLeft]

5. Good

Hope he invested well. If we do have any journalistic ethics remaining in our country, he will be shunned.

[Buns_of_Fire]

7. The journalism lady on Keith Olbermann tonight

(sorry, I forget her name, but you can catch it on the rerun) said that his credibility is pretty much shot. Poor, poor Armstrong... :nopity:

[rodeodance]

13. But will there be consequesnces for the Bush Adm?

[Buns_of_Fire]

23. For this alone, probably not

I don't think there's going to be such a thing as a "knockout punch" for this crowd. The "death of a thousand cuts" is a possibility, though.

[Buns_of_Fire]

44. RE: the journalism lady on Countdown

Her name (that I couldn't remember) is Deborah Potter. http://www.newslab.org/

(I had to see the rerun, just to watch the Keithster play whack-a-desk with his Ann Coulter doll again... :evilgrin: )

[Rose Siding]

8. What other journalists are on the payroll?

USA Today broke this with FOIA documents. I wonder just what they requested to get this handed to them.

[alcuno]

14. They had a tip so they knew what to ask for.

I'm hope that journalists are digging right now.

[PA Democrat]

15. I doubt this is an isolated incident

I wouldn't consider NCLB the most difficult policy to sell the American public. So how much did they pay to sell, oh let's see the Medicare prescription drug bill, the Iraq war, the tax cuts for the rich, just to name a few?

[Rose Siding]

17. Suppose there was a contract to discredit Joe Wilson

Makes me salivate LOL

[Buns_of_Fire]

32. The lady on Olbermann

(whose name I STILL can't remember!) said she was sure there was some digging going on now.

Slightly off-topic, for anyone who might be interested in a little extracurricular digging on their own, here's an FOIA letter generator to help write up your OWN requests (the page also contains links to lots of useful information). You, too, might be the next Woodward/Bernstein!

Thanks to upstanding journalists/commentators like the ones we have today (Armstrong, as KO noted, apparently can't decide which one he is), it becomes evident: We are the new media! Arise!

[ima_sinnic]

24. if neal boortz, whom I hate with every fiber of my being, gets busted

my faith in all that is good and holy will be restored.
How can anybody shovel such vile and blatant CRAP--conveniently so in synch with the Line of Bushit--without being paid to do it??

And what about Rush, huh? How much does HE get, anyway??

[autorank]

10. He and Tucker will be the new Martin & Lewis of the right.

[Maat]

11. One day, I hit the 'scan' button on the AM radio while driving home..

and the host stated that he was 'Armstrong Williams.' Then he proceeded to launch into the most sexist diatribe I ever heard, talking about a woman's place, basically. And he went on and on about how 'Mrs. Williams' always had dinner on the table for him as soon as he came home, and whatever else he wanted. She knew how to stay his wife, or whatever.

I subsequently changed channels, after thinking, 'Is that the Williams that writes for the right-wing websites?' That was the last I heard of him ... until now.

[The Backlash Cometh]

20. He had a show not too long ago complaining about those who called

Clarence Thomas an Uncle Tom. hehehe. I guess he was no better.

[baldingrockwarlord]

21. Walter Williams...

...is who you are thinking about and I heard that same deal as he was filling in for Oxycontin boy.

[Career Prole]

12. Good for them...

...are they going to turn state's evidence?
Burn, Williams, burn...and hug your benefactors while you do.

[spanone]

16. Williams is Toast......History.....dead on arrival...out of here.....a HO

[proud patriot]

18. I think this story is big

people don't like being called whores .

[wicket]

19. MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

:kick:

[Erika]

22. Harry Belafonte had a name

for these black right-wing, uh...uh...

[sonicx]

25. them right wingers sure are moral folks, ain't they?

heh, so who's next? Hannity? Malkin?

[truthisfreedom]

27. i hope every other damned right-wing pitch-pipe profiteer gets outed

and fired... every single one that got our tax dollars for bushco propaganda.

[Cobalt Violet]

28. Ha Friggin' Ha!

}( }( Who's next?

[Erika]

29. Joe Scarborough on MSNBC

just fried Williams. He said if Dan Rather had accepted almost a quarter of a million dollars to promote a Kerry agenda, that the right wingers would have gone off their rockers.

Williams had planned on coming on the show but walked off before the show. It equates to the time of his dismissal.

Just love those Republican values. It's sad in another way. Figure it out.

[stopbush]

30. How long before this ass blames his firing on "real" racism?

Repugs - they're all the same.

[mitchum]

31. Williams was Strom Thurmond' s original "Senate boy"...

first African-American Senate intern acquired by Thurmond in the late 60s. Williams is always rhapsodizing about what a glorious time he had growing up in SOUTH CAROLINA IN THE 50s! Incredible, isn't it?
I guess Mistuh Strom helped him relive those "gallant scenes of the pastoral south"

[Erika]

34. Is this true?

Strom Thurmond backed Williams? He accepted that backing? How ------- sick.

[mitchum]

35. Absolutely true...

it's a central part of William's biography. Even as a teenager, Williams realized that he could have a very lucrative career as window dressing

[Buns_of_Fire]

37. Yep

A third-generation conservative Republican with a long history of political involvement, Williams has worked on Capitol Hill for Senator Strom Thurmond and served as a confidential assistant to (now Associate Justice of the Supreme Court) Chairman Clarence Thomas of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and Congressmen Carroll Campbell and Floyd Spence.

http://www.lordly.com/talent/lordly/WilliamsArmstrong.html

[SillyGoose]

36. update...investigation requested

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20050108/D87FL1300.html

Rep. George Miller of California, the top Democrat on the House education committee, asked for an inspector general investigation into whether the deal was legal and ethical. The Republican chairman of the committee, Rep. John Boehner of Ohio, supported the request.

[The Judged]

40. hmmm, the sharks are in the water! Don't rock the boat, * !

[The Judged]

38. "... and now I face, the final curtain." "... the end is near ..." la la

[Liberty Belle]

39. That's probably 10 years of a columnist's pay.

Speaking as an ex-columnist, and that's being generous.

[Erika]

41. The GOP users played the race card big time

And they used the hell out of black republicans to the point they've all bottomed out as a heap of garbage. Harry Belefonte was right.

Armstrong, Thomas, Connerly, etc, are only pimps of the right wing. And they wonder why decent blacks don't vote GOP.

What a bunch of self-serving sicko creeps.

[Swamp Rat]

43. Yep.

[quaoar]

42. Just another whore for the Bush crime family

I'm sure he'll end up on Fox -- with the rest of the whores.

[Erika]

45. or have an oil tanker named after him n/t

[The_Casual_Observer]

46. Tough ass, bastard!

Sanctimonious shithead rw uncle tom. I wish he would take that shit larry elder with his sorry ass.