Shades of Bernays

Another journalist is caught shilling for Bush Co.

TV Reporter Earned Money from State

At the same time one of Florida's most visible television reporters brought
the news to viewers around the state, he earned hundreds of thousands of dollars
on the side from the government agencies he covered.Mike Vasilinda, a 30-year
veteran of the Tallahassee press corps, does public relations work and provides
film editing services to more than a dozen state agencies.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.On Friday, Vasilinda told the
Herald-Tribune that his business dealings with state government don't influence
his reporting.