US training of Syrian opposition "journalists"

So the New York Times yesterday revealed that the US government spent "more than $20 million" on training and equipping "Syrian opposition journalists".  But that raises questions in my mind regarding the coverage of Syrian conflict in the Washington Post and New York Times. As we know, the US government contracts the training of journalists to top US media institutions like those two. So the New York Times and Washington Post are both: participating in training the Syrian opposition journalists and then (especially in Geneva) giving them high marks for their performance. Is that conflict of interest that requires disclaimers?