In recent weeks, Yedioth Ahronoth's weekly supplement Seven Days published an article series sponsored by UMI, a company that imports Chevrolets to Israel. The series, entitled "Across America," describes a journey by writer Yigal Sarna and photojournalist Eldad Rafaeli. The newspaper reveals the series was funded by Chevrolet, but promises, "The sponsors are not involved in the content of articles." Despite that, a picture of a Chevrolet and the company's name, in English and Hebrew, appear in the logo at the top of every article.

Commercial firms regularly sponsor newspaper articles, but "Across America" represents a new low: A car importer does not enlist the services of an acclaimed writer like Sarna every day. Nor does a leading supplement like Seven Days behave like an underfunded local rag every day.

"Simply stated, I think commercial sponsorship of a newspaper article is professional debauchery," says journalist Micky Rosenthal. "My objection is directed more at the paper than at the writer. If Yedioth Ahronoth thinks this is a worthy subject, publisher Noni [Amnon] Mozes would do well to take out his wallet and pay for the series. If the paper thinks it's an unworthy subject, they should note at the top of the page that it's an advertisement."

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Sarna and Seven Days editor Nir Hefetz refused to be interviewed, stating that only Yedioth Ahronoth editor Rafi Ginat is authorized to speak on behalf of the paper. As usual, Ginat did not respond to attempts to contact him. Despite the paper's daily demands for comment from hundreds of individuals and organizations, the leaders of Israel's largest newspaper apparently consider themselves exempt.

In contrast, UMI deputy director Avi Aroch shed some light on the company's sponsorship of the series.

"The initiative came from the paper," Aroch says. "We happily supported it. As far as image is concerned, anything like that is good. We told them, 'Great. You want a car - we'll give you a car,' but the credit is all theirs."

UMI is not new to unconventional publicity. For years, the company organized the "Isuzu Challenge" tour, which boarded journalists and VIPs into Isuzu jeeps and trucks and took them to exotic spots around the globe. The quasi-extreme trek was, in fact, a tribute to Isuzu products. The company's current collaboration with Yedioth Ahronoth is costing UMI a lot less. "Money was provided for maintenance during the trip," Aroch says. "Really small sums - nothing to write home about."

Would it have cost a lot more to buy two or three pages of regular advertising in Seven Days? "Absolutely."

Seven Days is not the only publication that employs such measures. Major publications have resigned themselves to commercial content for quite some time. Take, for example, the lifestyle supplements that appear each Wednesday in Israel's two major papers: Yedioth Ahronoth's Modern Times and Ma'ariv's Style.

In recent editions of Modern Times, one can find a large fashion spread produced with the collaboration of the Mango clothes company, and articles sponsored by Nike, the Cassidy clothes company and Lavazza. Each closes with the statement, "The writer was a guest of the company."

What's more, consider the fact that the Walla! Internet site recently revealed that Yedioth fashion writer Gili Sivan-Cohen is employed as a stylist by companies she covers. Despite this grave conflict of interest, Ginat failed to respond here as well.

Sarna is not the first local journalist to travel abroad at the expense of a vehicle importer. Auto writers for all the papers do so regularly. Several times each year, Israeli auto writers fly abroad for new car launches. They often fly business class and typically stay in luxury hotels.

"It's not what it looks like," explains a veteran auto writer. "You usually fly in the middle of the night, land in the morning and immediately start driving a few hundred kilometers. Later, you barely have a chance to shower before you have to appear at a press conference. Then, at dinner, you have a chance to talk to auto designers. The next day you get up, eat breakfast and return to Israel."

The writer rejects the notion that perks from manufacturers influence journalists' opinions. "We are all professionals, and this is not a bribe, because it's standard. No one tells you what to write. You can trash the car, and if it's bad, you do trash it. But what we should condemn is that sometimes, all kinds of celebrities join us. During the last Mercedes launch, for example, [television weatherman and news anchor] Danny Roup went. What was he doing there?"

While car importers may run the risk of negative publicity, it appears UMI has so far benefited from "Across America." The current approach maintains that simple advertising in the press and broadcast media is insufficient. Companies must market a product as an experience, a label with social fringe benefits. Perhaps unwittingly, Sarna adopted this approach.

"In the middle of the day, at Kennedy airport, we picked up the Chevrolet, the stuff of American legends, like other icons," Sarna writes in the first article in the series. "A jeep, Cary Grant, Marilyn Monroe or a Smith and Wesson pistol. Just mentioning the name invokes the image of Jack Kerouac and his friend [Old] Bull Lee riding somewhere in an aging Chevrolet, the backyard of a suburban house, a pick-up truck. The odometer read 900, as if the car were born just for us, a moment ago."

Later, Sarna writes, "In the Chevy's vast interior - like that of every car here, everyone appears to be traveling in gigantic SUVs that have pushed aside older cars - we stowed our few clothes and technical equipment." The brand is glorified in the third article as well. "Cars that are no longer useful are preserved in the yard," Sarna writes. "Like tombstones, they recall bygone years: the Pontiac of childhood, the Chevrolet convertible in which you drove your first girlfriend into the night. The fine working pick-up." Until recently, UMI imported Pontiacs to Israel, too.

The second article features a photograph of the Chevrolet that Sarna and Rafaeli drove, and the third features another Chevrolet, bright red and bearing the unmistakable Chevrolet hood ornament. If, as the paper declares, UMI had no influence on the content, how come Rafaeli's lens failed to capture a Chrysler - an icon no less important than the Chevrolet, but one imported by another company?

In recent weeks, one regularly hears claims that the media failed to publish a comprehensive investigation of businessman Arcadi Gaydamak, who allegedly makes lavish contributions without having to describe his past or his motives. One response is that no publisher has set aside the tens of thousands of dollars required for such an investigation. Now, Yedioth Ahronoth comes along and proves that not only is it unwilling to bankroll such a complex investigation, it is also unprepared to fund the picturesque trek through the United States of one of its senior writers.

"I am unwilling to address this specific case," says Dalia Dorner, Israel Press Council chair and a retired justice, "because I lack information. All I can say is that based on [journalistic] ethics, a journalist is forbidden from receiving payment for his work from anyone other than the newspaper that employs him. To my understanding, this refers not just to direct payment but also to indirect payment."