THE RULES OF PUNDITRY: Fred Hiatt

...The Williams story, first disclosed by USA Today, has been followed by several others, including allegations concerning columnists Maggie Gallagher, who does not write for The Post, and Charles Krauthammer, who does. Some people have tried to put all three in the same basket, but they do not belong together. Because I oversee both the editorial and op-ed pages at The Post, I thought it would be useful to explain how I think they differ.

We wrote editorials criticizing Williams for accepting money to promote, as his contract stated, government views in his commentary. Even more strongly we criticized the administration for awarding such a contract and (in the case of then-Education Secretary Rod Paige) refusing to acknowledge its mistake. Fortunately, Paige's boss, President Bush, has stated clearly that the contract was wrong and should not be replicated by anyone in his administration.

We have not written editorials about Gallagher; she was not paid to covertly espouse administration views in her columns. She was paid, as The Post disclosed, to write brochures and essays for the Bush administration on marriage policy; and she separately praised the administration's marriage policy in her syndicated column.

Was that wrong? A member of The Post's editorial board doing the same thing would be fired. Post journalists do not take money from the government, a policy that applies as strictly to news reporters (whom I do not oversee) as to opinion writers. But we also have the luxury of regular paychecks, which freelance contributors and independent columnists may not enjoy.

So the Gallagher case is murkier. Since the Post story was published, she has described herself both as an "opinion journalist" and as a marriage expert entitled to do consulting work in the field. It seems to me these roles coexist uneasily if the consulting work is for the government. At a minimum, as she has since acknowledged, she should have disclosed her government payments in columns on the subject.

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posted by Eve at 9:08 AM | link

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