There are many bright ideas out there for the future of the 12 Knight-Ridder newspapers on the auction block, ideas that have generated discussion about the news media's responsibility to the public and democracy.

In an interview with the Washington Post, the Lincoln Group's Paige Craig and Andrew Garfield vaguely discussed the firm's "influence" - not propaganda - work for the U.S. government, with whom they have 12 contracts totaling more than $130 million.

PR Week's Hamilton Nolan offers a candid, if not glib, analysis of the Project for Excellence in Journalism 's third annual "State of the News Media" report, which looks at major trends in American news media. "Not surprisingly, into the maw of overworked journalists and reticent corporate owners comes the PR industry.