Junkets and Freelancers' Standards

or properly herbalized. mmmmmm, cake.

 

For the credibility of a particular newspaper and journalism as a whole, I personally applaud a blanket policy against taking freebies. While I understand the comments against NYT here, I see the bigger picture. If you are representing a newspaper either as FT staffer or freelancer, there should be a common standard and I would think most credible freelancers would want to adhere to standard journalism practices. There are unfortunately some who will get into the game in part to get freebies of whatever sort, and to me any policy that weeds out such people is a good thing.