MORE SHADY JOURNALISM: Stephen F. Hayes says that Bill Moyers has some ‘splaining to do.

Continued Moyers: “According to the watchdog group Public Citizen, power companies pushing for the law’s repeal gave more than $15 million to federal candidates.”

But who will watch the watchdog? Public Citizen is a frequent recipient of Schumann grants: $42,000 in 1999 to “fund a full-time investigative reporter to research and write on the nexus between special interest political contributions and the outcome of major domestic policy debates.” Another $75,000 in 2000 for “the Public Citizen Congress Watch investigative research program.” A further $204,000 in 2001 for “general support of Public Citizen’s educational efforts.” In fact, from 1991 to 2001, the last year for which IRS records are available, Moyers’s Schumann Foundation gave Public Citizen a total of $411,000.

Seems like a one-sided deal, doesn’t it? Courtesy of Moyers, Public Citizen gets a lot of money and, courtesy of PBS, it gets publicity for its work. Not to worry. Public Citizen can scratch backs, too, noting on its website: “It is not often that we advertise for TV programs, but we’ll make an exception this time. Bill Moyers has done a documentary on PBS entitled: ‘Trading Democracy,'” which you can order from Public Citizen “for $29.95 (plus shipping).”

This seems a lot worse than a lot of things people have made a big fuss about. So why is Moyers getting a pass?