Paying through the news
Taegan links to a WSJ article noting that administrations secretly paying to get their message out isn’t a new thing:
“In 2000, President Clinton’s drug czar, Barry McCaffrey, secretly paid television networks to propagandize its antidrug message. The scripts of ER, Chicago Hope, Beverly Hills 90210 and other programs were altered to include antidrug messages. In return for changing scripts, the networks were allowed to sell to higher-paying advertisers advertising time that had been promised to the government.”
It’s not mentioned here, but The Drew Carey Show and, I believe, Buffy The Vampire Slayer were also among those who changed their stories at the goverment’s behest.
(Explains a lot, doesn’t it? Remember that out-of-left field “Mr. Wick goes to rehab” storyline? “Beer Bad?” Crack whore Willow?)
