Feds spent $16B since ’02 on outside PR, ads: Some contracts awarded without full bidding, review of records shows

The Washington Times reports:

The government has spent more than $16 billion over the past decade on outside advertising, marketing and public relations contractors, feeding a cottage industry of inside-the-Beltway and Madison Avenue firms that help federal agencies burnish their images and tailor their messages, an investigation by the Washington Guardian and Northwestern University's Medill News Service has found.