Back-room deals for coverage and favors don't happen in an enlightened media environment, right? Okay, maybe there are some questionable dealings between the press and the
people it covers, but only at backwoods newspapers that don't know better, right?
Journalism ethics took yet another pounding when San Francisco Examiner Publisher Tim White testified that he would play nice with Mayor Willie Brown in the paper's opinion
pages in a "horse trade" for Brown's support of Hearst Corp.'s purchase of The Chronicle.
While disturbing, it does open a whole new avenue for clever - and well-connected - PR practitioners.