The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has found that the Bush administration violated federal law by purchasing favorable news coverage in advance of the 2004 elections. According to a GAO report released on September 30, 2005, the Bush administration violated the law by making payments to conservative commentator Armstrong Williams, by purchasing news coverage (video news releases (VNRs) and newspaper articles), and hiring a PR firm to analyze media perceptions of the Republican Party. The GAO report found that the public relations firm, Ketchum, who recently received another $25 million contract from the government, violated the ban on “covert propaganda” in work done for the Department of Education to promote the No Child Left Behind Act. Ketchum and its subcontractors violated the laws on propaganda by failing to disclose that its VNRs and columnists were funded by government money. Moreover, it has recently come to light that Williams may not have performed the work he was paid to do.

Since the GAO cannot prosecute government officials, Free Press and the Center for Media and Democracy have begun a campaign to pressure Congress and the Justice Department to prosecute officials that violated the law. Free Press is asking that people send an online letter to Congress and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.