Pay to say

It was pretty outrageous to learn that Armstrong Williams, a conservative commentator had been on the Education department payroll to promote Bush's 'No Child Left Behind' policies. Williams offered a lame apology, but so far no government officials have been held accountable for bribing the Press.

Today, the Jerusalem Post points out that journalists working for Associated Press, Israeli TV Channel 1 and Agence France-Presse have been simultaneously on the Palestinian Authority payroll.

It's becoming standard practice for authors of scientific publications to disclose potential conflicts of interest. This doesn't imply that scientists are all a bunch of manipulative liars. But it does suggest that we no longer live in a world where ethical violations are so rare as to be irrelevant. Its time for reporters to be held to a similar standard.