The criminal and moral recidivism of this administration never ceases to amaze. After having been caught paying pundits like Armstrong Williams to plant puff pieces for the Department of Education, and paying advocacy groups to pimp administration policies in op-eds, and paying Iraqi papers to publish pre-packaged happy-talk, the Miami Herald now reports that…

“At least 10 South Florida journalists, including three from El Nuevo Herald, received regular payments from the U.S. government for programs on Radio Martí and TV Martí, two broadcasters aimed at undermining the communist government of Fidel Castro. The payments totaled thousands of dollars over several years.”

The offending agency this time is the U.S. Office of Cuba Broadcasting (OCB). The Herald discloses that the papers, and some of the journalists, were connected to the Herald itself. To their credit, Jesús Díaz Jr., president of the Miami Herald Media Co., unambiguously denounces the activities:

“Even the appearance that your objectivity or integrity might have been impaired is something we can’t condone, not in our business. I personally don’t believe that integrity and objectivity can be assured if any of our reporters receive monetary compensation from any entity that he or she may cover or have covered, but particularly if it’s a government agency.”

The Herald fired two of the reporters propagandists, but as yet, I have seen no indication that anyone at the OCB, or any oversight office, has taken any action to address this assault on a free press. The fact that the government continues to engage in behavior that it has already been told is illegal, further demonstrates that they simply don’t care about the law. They will say and do whatever they want to achieve goals they know could not be secured legally. And they will do this until they are stopped.

This is an administration that has reigned over an era of misleadership and lies. And for the most part, they have had a compliant media to advance their nefarious agenda. Who will stop the reign? The media is the real problem, and if we don’t impose a comprehensive resolution we will only have more bought and paid for journalists in our future.

Update: It appears that even more reporters have been whoring for the feds.