Two opinion columnists and fellows at conservative think tanks have admitted to taking money from indicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff to write favorable columns about his clients. The Cato Institute's Doug Bandow, who had a syndicated column with Copley News Service, "accepted money from Abramoff for writing between 12 and 24 articles over a period of years, beginning in the mid '90s." Bandow resigned from Cato, and his column has been suspended. The Institute for Policy Innovation's Peter Ferrara also wrote "pay for play" columns for Abramoff, but, unlike Bandow, he isn't remorseful. "I've done it in the past, and I'll do it in the future," Ferrara said. Ferrara's boss also says the arrangement isn't "wrong or unethical." None of the columns contained any disclosure. BusinessWeek noted that the columns "provided a seemingly independent validation of the arguments the Abramoff team were using to try to sway Congressional action."

On December 15, the Illinois Supreme Court threw out a $10.1 billion verdict against Philip Morris and its parent company, Altria Group, saying they did not mislead consumers when advertising "light" cigarettes. The Chicago Tribune reports that Philip Morris' lawyers "contributed $16,800 to help elect a judge who cast a deciding vote" in the case. Judge Lloyd Karmeier "also received $1.2 million in campaign money from a group that filed an amicus brief supporting the cigarette-maker." The Illinois Chamber of Commerce, "which also filed an amicus brief in support of Philip Morris, contributed $269,338" to Karmeier's campaign. Yet Karmeier did not recuse himself. The court's press secretary said Karmeier "has tried to insulate himself from knowing the identities of campaign contributors and would not allow campaign contributions to have any effect on his ruling in this or any other case."

From army-technology.com

The U.S. Coalition Forces Land Component Command in Kuwait pulled the credentials of two embedded journalists from the Virginian-Pilot newspaper in Norfolk, Virginia, reportedly for publishing a picture of a bullet-ridden Humvee parked in a Kuwaiti camp. Military officials said the picture violated embed rules, although "the journalists had been escorted by military personnel to a compound where the vehicles were located." The president of the organization Military Reporters and Editors protested the decision. "Our job is not to be stooges of the administration or the Pentagon and be complicit in their attempt to manage the news," he said. "We are here to tell our readers about the war." The group plans to urge the Pentagon to review its embed rules next year.

Durham, North Carolina's local ABC television affiliate "has been staging fire, foul weather and other news events across Durham this week, shooting advertisements for its news operations that not only put its Eyewitness News team at contrived scenes but also have taxpayers footing the bill for on-duty firefighters and other emergency workers to give the ads a realistic flair." The city fire chief said the ads weren't "a waste of taxpayers' money," because the spots are "promoting what the Fire Department does," using "air time the city doesn't have to pay for." He added, "If we needed them for a call, we could have called them and they would have been out of there fast." A University of North Carolina journalism professor asked, "If the president can do it, why can't the local news station?" He added, "From an advertising view, people stage all sorts of stuff."