Has everyone been following the Armstrong Williams story?
Armstrong Williams is the conservative radio and newspaper commentator revealed by USA Today to have accepted $240,000 from the Bush administration to flog its "No Child Left Behind" education policy. Unethical, but not yet determined to be illegal - although it might be a violation of propaganda laws. Archived Williams columns here.
Now the Howard Dean campaign has come clean that it had hired two political bloggers as consultants, hoping for - and getting - favorable press in return. One of the bloggers was DailyKos, who received $12,000 over four months. Here's DailyKos on the Armstrong Williams breach.
Anybody know of any art critics, in any medium, operating similarly? Or, if you'd rather not name the critics, how about letting us know about who's hiring them?
Re: Kos and Dean... non-starter... full disclosure was clearly given at the timeRe: critics on the take... Just check those exhibition catalogs and gallery collateral. Plenty of critics get occasional paid gigs from galleries. This certainly doesn't come close to rising to Williams-level payola, nor is it in itself unethical. It does loosen the lid on that can of worms called 'conflict of interest,' though.
ReplyDeleteI seem to recall James Elkins briefly discussing the genre in What Happened to Art Criticism (including accounts from personal experience).