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Armstrong Williams. Mike McManus. Maggie Gallagher. Add Mike Vasilinda’s name to this pantheon of journalists on the dole. The Sarasota Herald-Tribune yesterday reported that at the same time that freelance reporter Vasilinda was reporting news from the state capitol for several Florida television outlets (and CNN) he was earning hundreds of thousands of dollars from the government agencies he was “covering”:
His Tallahassee company, Mike Vasilinda Productions Inc., has earned more than $100,000 over the past four years through contracts with Gov. Jeb Bush’s office, the Secretary of State, the Department of Education and other government entities that are routinely part of Vasilinda’s stories.
Vasilinda also was paid to work on campaign ads for at least one politician and to create a promotional movie for Leon County. One of his biggest state contracts was a 1996 deal that paid nearly $900,000 to air the weekly drawing for the Florida Lottery.
Meanwhile, the freelance reporter’s stories continued to air on CNN and most Florida NBC stations, including WFLA-Channel 8 in Tampa.
Vasilinda today issued a response to the article, maintaining with a straight face that there is no conflict in his two jobs. He also told the paper: “I have processes in place to make sure the products we put out for our news clients are free from bias from any source. We absolutely keep arm’s length between the two divisions of our company.”
The fact that Vasilinda works for government agencies in addition to doing reporting for CNN and most Florida NBC stations apparently was well-known among members of the Tallahassee press corps and government officials, write reporters Chris Davis and Matthew Doig, who broke the conspiracy of silence. “But viewers around the state have never been told of Vasilinda’s broad financial ties to state government.”
Perhaps the most hair-raising aspect of the revelation: At least one station’s news executive sees no conflict in Vasilinda’s dual roles. “He would not allow himself to be in a position where he would allow his journalism to be compromised,” WFLA news director Forrest Carr told the Herald-Tribune.
Frankly, that’s exactly the position he’s in. A news director may not be able to see it, but we’re betting that a lot of Florida TV viewers do — in fact, most of those who thought that was a reporter they were watching on the 6 ‘o’clock evening news.
Susan Q. Stranahan wrote for CJR.