Yes, ads hurt press freedom. But the alternatives are worse | Simon Jenkins

A searing indictment of the Telegraph’s HSBC reporting underlines the critical balance between holding readers’ faith and staying in business

Newspapers are institutionalised hypocrisy. They excoriate yet they cringe. They speak truth to power and then sup at its table. They stick their moral noses in the air while their bottoms rest on festering heaps of deals, perks, bribes and ads, without which they would not exist. The most amazing thing is that this murky edifice has delivered Britain a...