One part of this is understanding the importance of commentators (experts, scholars, interview subjects, opinion leaders) to the news mix, not just reporters.  

The opinion/fact mix:  Kurtz, on Project for Excellence in Journalism  http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&contentId=A47180-2002Jan27&notFoun d=true:
[After 9/11] "In December, 56 percent of the comments on CBS's "Early Show" were opinion and speculation, compared with 35 percent on ABC's "Good Morning America." "Nightline" was singled out as the most factual program and for devoting more than half its segments to foreign voices."

Speaking fees

In the early-mid 90's there was quite a bit written about major mainstream journalists and commentators accepting huge speaking fees.  A few media outlets, like ABC, set up some rules regulating this activity.  Some great quotes came out of the press coverage of this, most notably George Will saying "My business is my business," adding, "Got it?"

Some of the press coverage:

http://www.commondreams.org/news2004/0111-01.htm
Are George Will's Conflicts None of Your Business?
Jan 1 2004
Will wrote a column on  Conrad Black's foreign policy views without revealing that he gets $25,000 each time he attends a meeting of Black's advisory board.  When asked about this, Will replied, "My business is my business," adding, "Got it?"

http://www.salon.com/media/media961022.html
Strange bedfellows: Journalists as corporate shills
John Stossel appearance Federalist Society, "According to the Reporter, at the meeting Stossel talked up his upcoming projects -- on "junk science," "freeloaders" and "the permanent government," all favorite conservative fodder -- and made a pitch for corporate sponsors: "I certainly would encourage any of you who knows somebody who buys advertising on television to say 'please buy a couple of ads on those Stossel specials.'"

"... And Stossel is not alone. Many of the most famous members of the D.C. press corps -- the true power elite of American journalism -- accept high-paying corporate speaking engagements and have direct personal ties to the political candidates. The top echelon of Washington political reporters -- Cokie Roberts, Sam Donaldson, George Will, Andrea Mitchell and many others whose heads appear daily on the screen -- receive from $10-$30,000 (in Cokie's case) per appearance from industry groups like the National Association of Realtors, the American Hospital Association, the Public Relations Society of America and the Mortgage Bankers Association."

..."Over the last 18 months, all three networks, in an effort to combat what ABC News Vice President Richard Wald termed "the appearance of conflict of interest," have imposed guidelines that prohibit their correspondents from taking speaking fees from profit-making enterprises or groups representing those they may report on.

But the real compromises lie deeper -- in corporate sponsorship that defines the very parameters of what is considered acceptable discourse. Take the pundit talk shows, where a parade of center-to-right-wing talking heads appear each week to engage in what passes as political debate. From "This Week with David Brinkley" to "The McLaughlin Group," two corporate sponsors predominate: General Electric and Archer Daniels Midland, two of the biggest corporate recipients of subsidies, tax breaks and government contracts in the country."

http://www.ajr.org/Article.asp?id=1611
Take the Money and Talk
American Journalism Review  June 1995
"But [Cokie] Roberts doesn't want to talk about the company that paid her fee. She doesn't like to answer the kind of questions she asks politicians. She won't discuss what she's paid, whom she speaks to, why she does it or how it might affect journalism's credibility when she receives more money in an hour-and-a-half from a large corporation than many journalists earn in a year.
"She feels strongly that it's not something that in any way, shape or form should be discussed in public," ABC spokeswoman Eileen Murphy said in response to AJR's request for an interview with Roberts."
Steve Roberts, Cokie's husband : "Roberts says U.S. News has not been intimidated by the "cranks," who he believes are in part motivated by jealousy. "I think a few people have appointed themselves the critics and watchdogs of our profession. I, for one, resent it."

One example of speaking opportunities:  (I don't know anything about this foundation and can't find anything...)  http://www.newingtoncropsey.com/Events/past.htm
Past speakers at Newington Cropsey Foundation, NY:
·    Howard Fineman
·    John Kasich
·    Kenneth Allard (military analyst with MSNBC and NBC News, as well as a regular columnist for MSNBC.com)
·    Oliver North
·    Alan Keyes
·    Sean Hannity
·    Cal Thomas
·    Richard Picciotto (9/11 Fireman)
·    Ruth Graham-McIntyre (Daughter of Billy Graham)

Current speaking fee listings:

The major journalists set the tone for "conventional wisdom."

Brit Hume $30K-50K
http://www.speaking.com/speakers/brithume.html

Andrea Mitchell $20k - 25K
http://www.speaking.com/speakers/andreamitchell.html

Lisa Meyers  $10K - 15K
http://www.speaking.com/speakers/lisamyers.html

Lawrence Kudlow $15,001 - $25,000
CNBC, contributing editor and columnist for National Review
Mercatus Center: http://www.mercatus.org/people.php/959.html?menuid=1
http://www.washingtonspeakers.com/speakers/speaker.cfm?SpeakerId=2234&CFID=2388892&CFTOKEN=4 1108284

Fred Barnes  Speaking fees: $7,501 - $10,000  
Weekly Standard,  Board of Scaife/Bradley/Coors-funded Institute Religion and Democracy  http://www.ird-renew.org/News/News.cfm?ID=597&c=3  Funding: http://mediatransparency.org/search_results/info_on_any_recipient.php?recipientID=174
Speaking bio at: http://www.washingtonspeakers.com/speakers/speaker.cfm?SpeakerId=570&CFID=2388892&CFTOKEN=41 108284

Kate O'Beirne  Speaking fees: $5,000 (if local) to $20,000
CNN Capital Gang, Washington editor of the National Review
Note - Former vice president of government relations at the Heritage Foundation
http://www.leadingauthorities.com/3727/O

Tucker Carlson  $10,001 - $15,000
http://www.washingtonspeakers.com/speakers/speaker.cfm?SpeakerId=3081&CFID=2388892&CFTOKEN=4 1108284

Robert Novak   Fee - on request
http://www.washingtonspeakers.com/speakers/speaker.cfm?SpeakerId=557&CFID=2388892&CFTOKEN=41 108284

Lou Dobbs     Fee - on request
http://www.washingtonspeakers.com/speakers/speaker.cfm?SpeakerId=83&CFID=2388892&CFTOKEN=411 08284

Sean Hannity
http://www.washingtonspeakers.com/speakers/speaker.cfm?SpeakerId=3168&CFID=2388892&CFTOKEN=4 1108284

John Stossel Fee range: $30K - $50K
http://www.speaking.com/speakers/johnstossel.html

Laura Ingraham $15,001 - $25,000
Radio show, Fox News Channel, CNN and MSNBC, Columns in newspapers including Washington Post, USA Today, and the New York Sun
http://www.washingtonspeakers.com/speakers/speaker.cfm?SpeakerId=2244&CFID=2388892&CFTOKEN=4 1108284

Tim Russert   Fee - on request
http://www.washingtonspeakers.com/speakers/speaker.cfm?SpeakerId=824&CFID=2388892&CFTOKEN=41 108284

Howard Fineman,   Fee - on request
http://www.kepplerassociates.com/speakers/finemanhoward.asp

Enron, Buckraking, Punditgate

In 2002 it was disclosed that Enron had been paying journalists and commentators.  This is only one corporation.  How much of this s going on?  How to find out?

Articles:
http://www.headlinemuse.com/Politics/moneyreporters.htm
Money, Power and Influence: Muckrakers Become Buckrakers by Richard Blow
Same article at http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/12360/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A58606-2002Jan29?language=printer
. . . And the Enron Pundits

http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/12360/

Right-wing funding support

Lawrence Kudlow, Mercatus Center
http://www.mercatus.org/people.php/959.html?menuid=1
Mercatus funding: http://www.mediatransparency.org/search_results/georgemasonaggregate.php
$50,000 from Enron -- two $15,000 speaking fees and a $20,000 subscription to his New York economic research firm.

Arnaud de Borchgrave  Editor at large - UPI
Senior Adviser and Director, Center for Strategic and International Studies - RW funding: http://mediatransparency.org/search_results/info_on_any_recipient.php?recipientID=60

William Kristol serves on the board of trustees of the Manhattan Institute (paid?)
Bill Kristol, while editor of the Weekly Standard, was paid $100,000 for serving on an Enron advisory board over two years.
Kristol says he does "a fair amount" of speaking to corporate groups and doesn't normally disclose it.