Amid the controversy over the Washington Post’s plan to sell participation in “salons” with its reporters at its publisher’s home, less attention has been paid to another interesting development that reflects the changing ways traditional media are operating — the fact  the Post’s health section recently ran as its lead an article that first appeared in a hospital magazine.  The section’s editor says after buyouts eliminated her staff, she’s had to rely on freelancers.  However, while this article was written by a freelancer, it was not a freelancer working for the Post, but rather for the hospital publication … and the hospital reviewed the story draft.  So, was this a freelance journalist or a freelance PR person?  The Post was upfront about the fact the article was a reprint from the hospital magazine and a subsequent write-up in its “Media Notes” section focused on how the article came to appear in the Post.  But the question of what type of freelancer this really was hasn’t been raised …