Newspapers have been extending their "brands" into all sorts of activities in recent years, aided by their presence on the net.
There are loads of examples from The Times's bake club to The Guardian's fashion store to the Daily Telegraph's garden shop. US papers have taken a similar route, with the New York Times hosting a film club.
This week, to great fanfare, the Washington Post joined the trend by launching an online education innovation called MasterClass.
Without wishing to rain on the WashPo's parade, I might point out that The Guardian launched its masterclasses back in November last year. (More details here).
Anyway, there are differences. The Post's courses are taught online while The Guardian's are weekend events. And all of the Post's seven courses are taught by the paper's staff.
They include "Building audiences for your digital content" and "Spy fact and spy fiction". One that might prove popular is "How the government budgets and operates."
Prices are fairly steep at $399 (£250) a throw, though there's a $100 discount on offer for early adopters and one course - "The wines of Bordeaux" - is cheaper.
The journalist-tutors will benefit too. One of them, spy teacher David Ignatius - who is the author of six espionage novels - told the Columbia Journalism Review:
"The bundle that used to be marked 'journalist' is being unbundled right now. That's just the way it is. Every columnist is a brand name."
