But with polls showing the public losing faith in the ability of journalists to give the news straight up, some major newspapers and TV networks are clamping down.

I don't think they're worried about the ethics so much as the paper trail showing that their people are overwhelmingly liberal:

As the policy at the Times puts it: "Given the ease of Internet access to public records of campaign contributors, any political giving by a Times staff member would carry a great risk of feeding a false impression that the paper is taking sides."

Right, the 10 to 1 donations to Dems are just a coincidence.