The FCC is looking into the Armstrong Williams case.
The conservative commentator has been criticized for not disclosing that the Bush administration paid his PR firm to promote its education policies. The Department of Education is also looking into the matter.
Democratic FCC Commissioner Michael Copps said the number of complaints about Williams "has grown from a few to thousands."
In an era of big media, Copps said, it’s harder "to tell the difference between news and entertainment, to differentiate between information and propaganda."
Chairman Michael Powell said he asked the Enforcement Bureau to open two investigations, one into the Williams issue and another concerning Entercom’s WKSE (FM) in Niagara Falls, N.Y. At issue is whether a programmer took a trip paid for by a record label and attended sporting events arranged for by music executives. Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein has said this case may be part of what he believes is an increase in pay-for-play violations.
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