Joanna
Doug Henwood wrote:
> Editor & Publisher - January 10, 2005
>
> Several Papers Nix Self-Syndicated Armstrong Williams Column
> By Dave Astor
>
> NEW YORK A spot-check of the newspapers that had been publishing
> Armstrong Williams' column indicates he may have a tough time
> self-syndicating, as he told E&P Friday he hopes to do.
>
> Tribune Media Services (TMS) Friday terminated its contract with
> Williams after revelations that he accepted $240,000 from the Bush
> administration to promote the No Child Left Behind education-reform
> law on his TV and radio shows and that he mentioned NCLB at least four
> times last year in his column (See E&P Online, Jan. 7). Williams
> apologized, and he also told E&P he planned to try to continue his
> column via self-syndication starting today.
>
> Using a list of newspaper clients on Williams' Web site, E&P contacted
> 10 of them. Most of the papers reached will no longer use his column.
>
> "He violated a public trust," said Mary Ann Lindley, editorial-page
> editor of the Tallahassee (Fla.) Democrat, which ran Williams
> occasionally. "The competition is so keen that if you fall from grace,
> there are a million other people to choose from."
>
> Lindley added that she doesn't think Williams is that great a writer,
> so it wasn't hard for the Democrat to decide to no longer publish him.
> But she noted that the paper still would have dropped Williams even if
> it really liked his column.
>
> Denney Clements, editorial-page editor of The Sun News in Myrtle
> Beach, S.C., did admire Williams' syndicated feature but will drop it
> nonethess. "I loved his column, and it had a large following among our
> readers," said Clements. "But it's absolutely essential, regardless of
> a column's ideology, for it to be seen as an independent voice that's
> not shilling for the Bush administration or any other government or
> special interest." Clements said he received a Williams e-mail
> containing an apology and information about the column being
> self-syndicated.
>
> Beth Padgett, editorial-page editor of The Greenville (S.C.) News,
> said the paper decided to drop Williams Friday even before TMS
> announced the contract termination. "We're not going to publish him
> again," she said. Padgett noted that the $240,000 payment was related
> to Williams' broadcast work, but "it still creates such an appearance
> of a conflict that we could not in good conscience continue his
> column. We don't care if readers agree or disagree with a column, but
> we want them to have confidence that its opinions aren't colored by
> any business relationship they're not aware of."
>
> Mike Fitts, associate editor of The State in Columbia, S.C., told E&P
> that the paper will no longer run Williams' column. "We feel he cost
> himself a great deal of credibility," said Fitts. "He crossed a line."
> But Fitts added that Williams will still be allowed to submit guest
> op-ed pieces, which the State would decide to run or not run as it
> would with any other submission. Fitts noted that Williams is from
> South Carolina, and has written non-TMS-syndicated pieces for the
> State in the past.
>
> Several editors said they have no problem running op-ed pieces
> advocating for various interests as long as the bio clearly identifies
> the writer's connection to an issue. Newspaper readers, until last
> Friday, weren't aware that Williams and his shows had received U.S.
> Department of Education money.
>
> Barbara Williams, editorial-page editor of The Post and Courier in
> Charleston, S.C., said she hadn't been aware until E&P called that
> Armstrong Williams was going to try to continue his feature via
> self-syndication. The Post and Courier has no plans at this point to
> keep publishing the column, which it had not used often. But Williams
> said she would at least discuss the matter with others at the paper.
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