Not even a slap on the wrist for disseminating propaganda

From the New York Times (registration required, use BugMeNot):

Federal auditors said on Friday that the Bush administration violated the law by buying favorable news coverage of President Bush's education policies, by making payments to the conservative commentator Armstrong Williams and by hiring a public relations company to analyze media perceptions of the Republican Party.

In a blistering report, the investigators, from the Government Accountability Office, said the administration had disseminated "covert propaganda" in the United States, in violation of a statutory ban.

Well Hallelujah! A win for the Fourth Estate! If only the law they broke had any provision for penalties. Sigh.