The New York Times factors in expenses associated with reporting stories into its employees salaries, and requires them to pay for all expenses incurred to repo

The New York Times factors in expenses associated with reporting stories into its employees salaries, and requires them to pay for all expenses incurred to report on something themselves. The reasoning is that, without any chance of needing to accept external money, the journalists have no motivation besides their own interest to cover a story. This, to me, sounds like the digital equivalent of that - trying to minimize sources of bias or external influence of coverage. That being said - what you describe is certainly a convenient side effect of the policy.