So that will be £200m paid to publishers then

I do not recall a time when the media complained about the amount if money governments spend on press advertising.

I am getting fed up with hearing snide remarks from journalists, some anonymous as in the case of the Evening Standard who say:

.....recent figures showed a vast rise in the Government's spending on spin doctors and public relations - up from £111million in 1997 to more than £300million last year.

Spin doctors are mostly journalists who like to put their own 'spin' on a news story. Public relations people are involved in building mutually beneficial relationships between organisations and their constituencies.

Ergo ...I wonder what sort of back-handers have been made to the anonymous journalists employed by the Evening Standard to spin ggovernment stories - or am I reading too much into this?

Judging by how well newspapers are doing, this may simply be a hidden subsidy to the publishers.