Paying for good news reporting

Wow, this is embarrassing on multiple levels.

Newark Mayor Sharpe James and the city council have found a way to buy good news.

The council has hired a fledgling newspaper called Newark Weekly News to publish "positive news" about the city -- and will pay $100,000 over the next year for it.

Obviously, a city needs to promote itself and spend money doing so. But paying an independent publication to do nothing but write puff pieces is just sad.