Sunday, March 27, 2005

GOP Paid Reporters and Fake News # 4

Herald Tribune

TV reporter earned money from stateBy CHRIS DAVIS and MATTHEW DOIGAt 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.... CNN, which aired a Vasilinda story on Terri Schiavo on Thursday, did not return phone calls seeking comment.

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