What is the job of the news media again? To report the truth? Ah yes, we learned that after paying for our six-figure j-school education! (That, and why it's not worth paying for j-school.) Why, then, is it so difficult for news organizations to even lay the foundation for fair reporting, let alone accomplish it?

At homeplate this week is NBC News, which gets reamed once more by the New York Times' enterprise reporting on military analysts and their conflicts of interest. Back in April, David Barstow published a blistering expose on cable news networks' use of military veterans as on-air policy analysts while failing to inform viewers that the very subjects they discussed just might be influenced by these analysts' financial dealings. The networks claimed ignorance; how were they supposed to know the same retired general was on retainer at a defense contractor who stood to benefit from the war policy suggestions he delivered on TV?

Hmmm, maybe they could've … asked?

If they had paid attention in April, perhaps NBC News wouldn't have its hands gripping its ankles as it takes it deep from Barstow's follow-up yesterday, which, like a heat-seeking surface-to-air missile, honed in on the blatant conflict of interest hovering over 30 Rock. His name is Gen. Barry R. McCaffrey. He's a retired four-star Army general. And he's been getting paid handsomely by both a defense contractor and NBC News to advocate just about anything that pads his wallet.

As a paid consultant to Defense Solutions, Gen. McCaffrey is financially rewarded for his remaining ties to top ranking military personnel, access to the Bush administration, and his war time experience that gives him the gravitas that others respect and adhere.

As a paid analyst to NBC News, Gen. McCaffrey is financially rewarded for sharing his military expertise on the air whenever the network needs a talking head to wax logistics about the Iraq or Afghanistan wars, or what could happen with Iran and North Korea.

It just so happens that sometimes, these two "separate" interests intersect, which means Gen. McCaffrey goes on NBC News spewing policy suggestions that just happen to coincide with what Defense Solutions has been lobbying the Pentagon about.

We'll let the Times' Barstow explains the details, but the one thing we can't shake is the utter idiocy of NBC News. Its president, Steve Capus, ignored the reporter's April call to action and instead hid in the shadows of ignorance, playing dumb about NBC's military analysts and their financial conflicts of interests.

Yes, it must be noted, sometimes McCaffrey disagreed with what he was paid to lobby for, but not always. And either way, isn't that the sort of coloring that viewers should know about? Not according to Capus' version of things.

Foolishly, Capus told the Times (in their paraphrasing) that "General McCaffrey was a man of honor and achievement who would never let business obligations color his analysis for NBC." Uh huh. Added Capus (direct quote): "There’s no open microphone that begins with the Pentagon and ends with him going out over our airwaves."

What's sad is that you can tell even Capus doesn't believe that line, though he expects you, the Times reader and NBC News/MSNBC viewer, to buy right into it. Meanwhile, because Gen. McCaffrey is a "paid consultant" and not a NBC News "employee," NBC policy doesn't require him to disclose financial ties.

Well — perhaps it should. And so too any paid analyst who comes on the network. And not so Capus and his news division don't come across looking like lying schmucks again, but so viewers can have a more honest and transparent appreciation for news media, which they already barely trust. If NBC News, or any other network, is going to tell you it hosts the best talent in the biz to bring you the most complete story, the least they could do is force their on-air guests to disclose anything that might color their reportage.

If the same company can decide Jim Cramer shouldn't own the stocks he recommends on Mad Money, so too should General Electric's news division decide its paid talent — no matter how they're classified by the IRS — shouldn't sit in front of a camera while they're blindly allowed to spew disinformation for financial gain.

Now, it appears, heads could roll. Cable news industry site FTV Live fingers talent chief Elena Nachmanoff, who supposedly told Capus he had nothing to worry about. But that's not exactly good enough.

See, if we ran the news division of a multi-billion dollar company, and more than six months ago the most-read newspaper in the world fingered us for, willingly or not, covering up blatant conflicts of interest that affect foreign policy and military strategy — repeat: foreign policy and military strategy — we might just make sure everything is up to snuff all by ourselves.