We don't hand out our "Stinky Fish" awards--those given for the worst examples of journalism we can find--very often, but our nomination for worst newspaper article of the day has to go to the NYT's David Barstow for a shallow piece in today's paper on video news releases.

Barstow somehow manages to write up a new report from the Center for Media & Democracy that alleges widespread use of video news releases without actually naming a single one of the 69 stations that used them or talking to any of the news directors at the accused stations about their use of the controversial VNRs, prepared by companies like General Motors, Capital One, and Pfizer and then run as news stories without explaining their PR genesis.

The report, which "stunned" one FCC commissioner, found the 69 stations reach about half the population of the United States. The FCC's Jonathan S. Adelstein, "called the cases in the report a 'disgrace to American journalism' and evidence of 'potentially major violations' of F.C.C. rules," Barstow reports.

(None of the stations listed (PDF) are in DC, although two are in Virginia and two in Maryland, including Baltimore's Fox WBFF, owned by Sinclair Broadcasting.)

Of course you'd think that somewhere in the 600-word story, you might find room to name one or two of the major stations involved or maybe call one of the news directors to talk about why they ran the VNR--or even if they admit doing so.

But then again, if you look at the list of stations, some answers emerge. There's lots of Tribune Broadcasting stations, several News Corp stations, and a smattering of Sinclair's stations. Oh and this little nugget: TWO of the accused stations are owned by the New York Times Company--Pennsylvania's WNEP-TV and Alabama's WHNT-TV.

Oops.

> On the flip side, NPR's David Folkenflik managed to actually report the story.

Does anyone ever get the impression that the big problem with journalism ethics doesn't lie quite so much with the full-time reporters as it does the think tank-based "columnists"?

"The admission by two columnists that they accepted payments from indicted Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff may be the tip of a large and rather dirty iceberg," Howard Kurtz says today.

Take for example Peter Ferrara of the Institute for Policy Innovation (founded by Dick Armey), who recently acknowledged "occasional financial support" from half-a-dozen lobbyists, including Abramoff.

He has this genius of an quote for Kurtz: "There is nothing unethical about taking money from someone and writing an article."

Well, no, technically not. For instance, reporters at the Washington Post do generally take money from the Post in exchange for writing their articles. Ditto for say reporters at New York Times or even the Washington Times. In fact, there are even rumors that reporters at CNN and MSNBC often accept bimonthly direct deposits for gathering and reporting news on television.

The problem, Mr. Ferrara, is when people accept money IN EXCHANGE for reporting or expressing a point of view. Even that can be acceptable if you TELL people that you're being paid--that's why on those vitamin commericals pitchmen are labeled as paid spokespeople. You did the former and not the latter. That's where you went astray.

As the Washington Times' editorial page editor Tony Blankley said upon dropping Ferrara as a voice: "Anybody who misrepresents or doesn't voluntarily reveal that they are being paid to write the article by an interest obviously has fallen below the standard that we would hold any published author to."

Say what you will about the Washington Times: At least it understands basic journalism ethics, which is more than we can say about a long list of "columnists" these days....

(See what Michael Kinsley has to say about "pundit payola" here...)

Over at the Village Voice, Sydney H. Schanberg picks up on something that we were griping about a few weeks back: Bob Novak's upcoming slippery "exclusive" forum with newsmakers. It only costs $595 to attend and you get great access to top administration and government officials, but there are some rather strict rules: Primarily, no reporters.

As Schanberg asks, "Those certainly don't sound like requirements laid down by a journalist. Is Novak really a reporter?"

As we argued a month ago: Good reporters don't sell access.

One wonders though: If there are only 70 slots, and Novak's email is still out there offering slots, is interest fading in the Novak forums? Is he too much of a hot potato this year?

HURRY!!!!!! Only a few seats left!!!!! Bob Novak, the Prince of Darkness himself, is selling 85 seats to people willing to pay $595 for his access to Washington's top decision-makers. An email invite from Novak went out this morning to Human Events' mailing list offering a limited-time offer to sign up attend the three-decade-old "Evans-Novak Political Forum" and get access to "The Ultimate (Secret) Source."

"This meeting is strictly off the record, and what is said there remains one of Washington's best-kept secrets," the email touts. At the forum "high-ranking officials openly discuss the most important topics facing the country, including national security, politics on the Hill, and the economy... You can ask them anything you want, and remarkably candid responses are given."

While the website claims the event is on September 21st, the email says the 22nd. Either way, it's at the University Club. Additional guests are a bargain at only $395.

Nothing quite like trading on access, right? Maybe this is that Faustian bargain that Mark Feldstein was talking about in yesterday's Post. The email touts that such luminaries as Karl Rove himself have spoken at previous events.

Maybe for $595, we could learn how Novak is involved in this whole Rove leak investigation thing....

It seems, with all of the drama over sources and a reporter sitting in jail for a story that Novak wrote, that this is a particularly unpleasant and inappropriate time for anyone to be advertising such an event that mixes journalism with cash to result in access to national leaders--and particularly repulsive given that Novak himself is doing it.

Hence, our second awarding of a Stinky Fish award recognizing the worst journalism journalism has to offer. Think of the Stinky Fish as the Anti-Pulitzer.

So congrats Mr. Novak: Today, you officially stink.

[Full email invite, complete with misspelling of Bob Shrum, after the jump]

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One day after the Pulitzers came out celebrating the best American journalism has to offer, we're going to go ahead and award the first Fishbowl D.C. Stinky Fish Award--given from time-to-time to the worst piece of "journalism" we come across.

Today's award goes to Des Moines Register and its article by Erin Crawford, "Is he Johnny Gosch?" touting the conspiracy theories that Jeff Gannon is actually the now-grown Jeffrey Gosch, who was kidnapped from Iowa in 1980 at age 12.

The final story concocted by the mother's private investigator supposes Gosch was kidnapped into a pedophilia ring, trained by the CIA to be a male escort/spy, then given a job as a White House escort to reward him for his service and/or silence him. Um, yea, of course, because the way that the CIA "rewards" its male escorts is by giving them jobs that require them to appear on television everyday for two years. Nice low-key profile there.

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