On Monday morning, independent public relations consultant Paul Furiga found several e-mail messages from former Ketchum co-workers.

Graham Williams Group via AP Armstrong Williams

It wasn't to do lunch or to just catch up. Instead, the e-mailers were concerned that the venerable public relations firm was yet again being named in a controversy over government efforts to get favorable coverage.

Over the weekend, newspapers and TV had been chewing up the USA Today revelation that conservative commentator Armstrong Williams was paid by the U.S. Department of Education to promote the No Child Left Behind school program backed by the Bush administration. The controversial contract was set up by Ketchum, as numerous media outlets pointed out.

The disclosure came only months after Ketchum's name appeared in a rash of October stories on how the Education Department paid for ratings of news stories on how favorable the stories were to the school legislation. And in May, a government agency ruled Medicare video news releases, which a Capitol Hill publication attributed to a Ketchum subcontractor, were "covert propaganda" because viewers could not tell they were produced by the government.

In each case, the loudest outcry has come from groups critical of government agencies spending taxpayer dollars to promote partisan viewpoints.

But Ketchum's position as the contractor gets extra attention from the firm's numerous alums in the Pittsburgh area. The 1,100-employee firm was founded here before the Depression, though it is now part of conglomerate Omnicom Group based in New York. Shifts in recent years have drastically reduced the public relations practice here.

Ketchum officials referred questions this week to the Education Department, the firm's client.

The local industry is conflicted over whether the case reflects badly on Williams, the government and Ketchum, or whether there are implications that will reverberate through both the public relations and media communities.

"This issue is larger than any one firm," said Furiga, who left Ketchum in 2001 and now runs a North Hills public relations business.

Consumers may already have a tough time determining who is editing the news and what standards apply to pundits. "You've got a growing element within the news media that is advocacy-based," said Robert Oltmanns, of Downtown public relations firm Skutski & Oltmanns.

Indeed, in an era of Fox vs. CNN, bloggers and talk radio, the traditional lines of journalism have been blurred. Even established media networks rushing to find knowledgeable experts may look past some of the entanglements of those voices. Williams' "Right Start Productions" produces his syndicated TV and radio programs, but also works for other clients. His business also includes a public relations firm.

In the text of a Sunday CNN interview posted on Williams' site, the commentator said he was really not aware of guidelines commonly used by major media outlets to guard against conflicts of influence.

His apology on the site argues that long before he took the contract, reportedly worth about $240,000, he had been a vocal supporter of school vouchers. In hindsight, the statement adds, his readers should be able to feel his column is not corrupted by outside influences.

Tribune Media Services, which syndicated his column, apparently didn't agree and canceled the column.

"He made a mistake in judgment," agreed Larry Werner, former Ketchum partner and director of the Pittsburgh office who now is a private consultant. That much was clear to Werner but, not privy to the details of the arrangement, he was not comfortable offering further analysis.

The Williams' contract, posted on the USA Today Web site, gave Skutski's Oltmanns pause in its stipulations that Ketchum would arrange for the pundit to regularly comment on No Child Left Behind during the course of his broadcasts. Compromising the integrity of the communications process is not allowed under the ethics guidelines of the Public Relations Society of America.

The society itself yesterday issued a statement on the situation, welcoming Williams' apology but blasting the undisclosed relationship as unethical.

"As public relations professionals, we are disheartened by this type of tactic," said Judith T. Phair, president and chief executive officer of the 20,000-member group. "It does not describe the true practice of 'public relations.' PRSA strongly objects to any paid endorsement that is not fully disclosed as such and is presented as objective news coverage."

Students in Bob O'Gara's public relations classes at Point Park University, Downtown, can expect to hear about the Williams' scenario again. The case, he said, is a good one for teaching students what can and cannot be done with an endorsement contract.

Meanwhile, at least one descendant of the original founders would rather not hear the Ketchum name again associated with this sort of situation.

Carlton Ketchum, a great-nephew of the two founders, works at an insurance agency in town and has never been a part of the agency business. But the distinctive moniker means people he meets frequently ask if he is related to the firm.

He admits it could be much worse. "I'm glad my last name isn't Enron."