Freebie Love at the 'NY Post'

So much for the new culture of ethical rigor at the New York Post.

In the two years since Jared Paul Stern helped reveal the paper, and especially its gossip page, to be a hotbed of freebie-taking and favor trading, the Post has tightened its rules and cracked down on violators.

But enforcement has been spotty, and an attitude of take-what-you-can-get still prevails -- as two Post reporters demonstrated this week by partaking in an all-expenses-paid junket to Las Vegas, courtesy of Thrillist, the urban-lifestyle newsletter, and JetBlue.

Justin Rocket Silverman, one of the two reporters, says he cleared the trip in advance with his boss, and adds that he sees no ethical conflict, as he has been friends with Thrillist co-founders Adam Rich and Ben Lerer for years and treated it purely as a social outing.

"I went as a friend of Thrillist, with the understanding that I wouldn't be writing about it," he says. "I viewed it as a media party that was taking it to the next level." (The other Post-ie, Brian Niemietz, is a freelancer.)

To be sure, Silverman was far from the only journalist on the trip, whose retail value appears to have been around $800 or more. According to Gawker, reporters from CNet, CNN, the Huffington Post, NY1 and Mediabistro all went along.

But none of those outlets have recently had to bust employees for, say, having sponsored parties, or accepting cash gifts from restaurant owners, or letting convicted felons who also happen to be pornographers throw them $50,000 bachelor parties. And so on.

I emailed Post editor Col Allan to see if the paper will be reimbursing JetBlue and Thrillist for the cost of its reporters' trips. I'll let you know if I hear back.