From the NYT story:

Though product placement in movies and on television shows is a fairly standard practice, it is generally accepted that magazine and newspaper articles, and television and radio news programs, do not accept payment for naming products.

A recent survey, however, challenges that understanding. An annual poll conducted by PR Week magazine and Manning Selvage & Lee, a public relations firm, asked 266 marketing executives if they had ever paid for broadcast or editorial placement. Nearly half said yes. And nearly 46 percent of those who had not paid for placement replied that they would consider doing so in the future.

"I don't think it's as blatant as putting cash in an editor's hand. The issue is much more subtle than that and more nefarious as a result," said Mark Hass, chief executive of Manning Selvage & Lee and a former journalist. "The results show that there is an ethical issue that needs to be discussed, that there needs to be education around, so that the marketing industry develops more respect for the separation between editorial and advertising."

Mr. Hass cited the financial pressure on marketing executives to get their products broader exposure as one reason this practice had taken root. Another, he said, is the increasing number of specialty consumer and business-to-business magazines.