Beyond Payola: Putting Steven Milloy in the same category as Armstrong Williams, Michael Fumento, and the rest of the commentators caught with their hands in the corporate (or government) cookie jar is unfair to everyone involved. It’s unfair to those reporters and commentators previously caught up in the scandal because at least they have some journalistic credentials, despite their occasional lapses. Its unfair to Milloy because he has never, to my knowledge, pretended to be anything other than a corporate shill.

So when The New Republic reports that Milloy received $90,000 from ExxonMobil last year and not coincidentally devoted one of his FoxNews.com columns to decrying climate change as “junk science,” we should not be surprised. Milloy has taken money from tobacco companies to trash research into the effects of second-hand smoke, and has typically been quite overt about both his politics and his financial support system.

The problem is not with Milloy, but with FoxNews.com, which continues to present his commentary—including a recent piece on the “Top 10 Junk Science Claims of 2005”—without disclosing his industry ties. A Fox spokesman told TNR that "Fox News was unaware of Milloy's connection with Philip Morris,” which seems incredible given Milloy’s background.