Apologizing for Bad PR

After two weeks of criticism and investigations by the FCC and Congress, the PR company hired by the Education Department to promote "No Child Left Behind" has apologized for its part in the Armstrong Williams scandal. The Ketchum agency paid Mr Williams $240,000 from the Education Department to conduct interviews with Bush administration officials and to promote the act on his radio and television programs. Mr Williams and the Education Department never disclosed the arrangement until USA Today broke the story. The Ketchumpromised to change policies to prevent what it called another "lapse in judgement." Right now, federal investigators are probing to judge whether it was much more -- such as breaking federal laws against the government engaging in "covert propaganda." (NYT)