At least that's the case at a couple of the free dailies offered in the San Francisco area. According to this story practices at the papers range from allowing advertisers to write their own editorial copy to encouraging staffers to give positive reviews to restaurants and such that advertise in the paper. Instead of acting shocked and launching an immediate investigation some of the people involved expressed dismay that readers wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a piece of actual editorial and one that heaped an over-abundance of praise on an advertiser. Labels such as "promotional news" are thrown around in order to make what they're doing seem not so bad.