>IMO, it isn't news, it's junk mail masquerading as news, and
>I wonder just how much of a newspaper is filled with junk mail.
>Anybody have any ideas?
>
>Does Kimberley-Clark pay the WSJ or DMN to run this article, or
>is providing reader fodder enough?
>
>When we get to politics or ideas, how much of that is PR nonsense?
Lots. When I got into the journalism racket, I was really surprised to learn how big a part publicists play in it. A lot of what newspapers and magazines write is either inspired by or paraphrased from press releases. Lots of people you hear on the radio or see on TV are there because publicists were chatting up the producers. Part of the problem is time - journalists and producers often don't have lots of it, but they have lots of time (in broadcast) and space (in print) to fill. So if some news item or interviewee is dropped in your lap, it solves both problems. Press kits for books now regularly include lists of questions that interviewers might ask (in case the producer - rarely the host! - is too busy to read the press release itself).
KC paid the PR Newswire to distribute that, but the didn't pay the newspapers to repeat it.
Doug