ABSTRACT
Confl ict of interest is so familiar in its basics that it is virtually a cultural archetype of journalistic corruption. It is the fi nancial writer who owns stock in the company she is profi ling, the politics reporter who accepts a weekend junket from a rich offi ceholder, the publisher who kills a story about an advertiser caught up in an anti-prostitution sweep, the TV network whose news operation soft-pedals a legislative proposal that will save its parent company billions.
