The payments are typically for exclusive rights to publish personal information or obtain an interview, which for some news events, leads to bidding wars among the media for access.
Past examples include stories about Michael Jackson, Bill Clinton, O. J. Simpson, Princess Diana, and Richard Nixon, where sources were sometimes paid millions of dollars for interviews.
Some hazards of chequebook journalism have become more common, as the practice has made celebrities and politicians a lucrative target for tabloids, and a form of public voyeurism which attracts viewers.
[1] Among the reasons for those policies, according to Andy Schotz, chairman of the SPJ's ethics committee, is that paying for an interview immediately puts the credibility of the information they provide in doubt.
For example, the imprisonment in 2016 of Tara Brown and Stephen Rice, considered two of Australia's finest reporters, came about during production of a 60 Minutes story concerning the recovering of abducted children.
Awaiting them here are U.S. print and TV tabloids and the "legitimate press," and soon this pride of competing big cats and their scavenging tag-alongs are hunting en masse, one indistinguishable from the other...
[21] And writer Andrea Gerlin adds that the circulation wars among British newspapers has over the years led to rounds of "media witch-hunts, checkbook journalism, and intrusive stories about celebrities.
"[22] In 2012, it was disclosed that reporters and editors at The Sun, a UK tabloid, had for years paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to police officers, along with a "network of corrupted officials" in the military and the government, to inform the paper about scandals.
[25] Such payments were not necessarily in cash, as when Hearst newspapers paid the legal bills for the man who kidnapped Charles Lindbergh's son in 1935 in order to get his exclusive story.
In 1995, ABC gave Michael Jackson a series of free ads on Prime Time Live, valued at $1 million, promoting his new album on the same week they interviewed him.
In recent years, however, unsubstantiated or unofficial allegations made to a reporter can gain "almost immediate coverage," says Everette Dennis, formerly executive director of the Media Studies Center at Columbia University.
[28] Mike Bass, executive vice president at CNN, also noted a future of lowering standards when he wrote that the "whole notion of checkbook journalism stinks.
[30] Newspaper editor David B. Cooper has acknowledged the dangers of paying for stories: The frantic, competitive ratings race in television has spawned a wave of awful stuff passing for journalism.
In one case, the UK tabloid The News of the World promised a young girl $25,000 if the man she accused of sexually molesting her was convicted; her testimony was the key evidence.
7 While those who have had affairs with sports stars receive large payoffs to be interviewed, as when Sky News paid $200,000 to a woman who made that claim regarding soccer player David Beckham.[42]: Ch.
Critics of chequebook journalism say the danger is prevalent among the famous by turning celebrities and politicians into lucrative targets, a complaint leveled by attorneys representing Bob Barker, who was fighting sexual harassment accusations.
[46] "This thriving tabloid culture has erased the old definitions of news: Tawdry stories about celebrities are no longer confined to the supermarket papers," wrote media author Howard Kurtz.
[51] Or when Republican candidate for governor, Jon Grunseth, was forced to drop out a few days before the election, due to the publication of unproven allegations concerning conduct which took place nine years earlier.
The New York Times notes that newsmakers who have received large payments include not just witnesses in court cases like the Casey Anthony and O. J. Simpson trials, but former presidents.
And the issue is not likely to disappear anytime soon..."[53] Cal Thomas, a syndicated columnist, explained that the British press, under both Labour and Tory governments, have been paying for news stories for years.
"[54] The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) Ethics Committee condemned the actions of ABC, NBC and CNN in their use of chequebook journalism, when they were bidding for an interview with Tonya Harding, after a figure skating controversy.
[61][62] He also acknowledged that "checkbook journalism" served as part of the editorial philosophy he followed when ran American Media Inc.[62][61] Pecker stated that he believed that “The only thing that is important is the cover of a magazine.”[62] What started as a legitimate news story in 1993, the sexual molestation allegations against singer Michael Jackson, quickly turned into a media circus after a number of tabloid television shows began buying story rights.
"If you want to turn a carnival side show into a main event," said Thomas Lennon, producer of Frontline, "you take a big name and drag it through the mud.
Jackson's attorneys said that such "cash-register journalism" had "transformed the culture of reporting into a profit-driven enterprise that leaves traditional news organizations in the dust, and likewise turns celebrities into lucrative targets.
"[21] According to Washington Post writer Howard Kurtz, "this thriving tabloid culture has erased the old definitions of news by including tawdry and sensational stories about celebrities, for the sake of profit."
He notes that immediately after sexual allegations against Jackson were publicized, although no proof was given, it drew heavy coverage from numerous major newspapers, and made the cover of countless magazines.
"[63] During Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential election campaign, Gennifer Flowers, a nightclub singer and former state government worker in Arkansas, was paid an estimated $100,000 for her story in a weekly tabloid, where she claimed to having a 12-year long affair with him, which he denied.
It is terribly difficult to resolve the issues of motivation, evidence and conflicting recollection that attend such past relationships – and politicians are easily victimized by people seeking to settle old scores.
Political journalist John Seigenthaler said he observed that the press was moving more and more into accepting unchecked and unsubstantiated hearsay about sexual allegations against public figures.
[22] Publishers and editors of British newspapers subsequently pledged to abide by a new code, as a result of Princess Diana's death, which lays down rules about privacy, harassment and buying stories.