Checkbook journalism, violates the SPJ's code of ethics and calls into question the veracity of reporting.
The revelation this week that ABC News paid a second source close to the Casey Anthony murder trial – raising the total price of exclusive coverage to $215,000 – underscores a growing trend of buying news content and it stands to undermine journalistic credibility, the Society of Professional Journalists’ Ethics Committee said today.
ABC News and other networks have paid licensing fees for exclusive information in the past, and those practices have been challenged by SPJ as undermining news legitimacy and creating an environment of “truth-selling.”
In this latest incident, the man who found the body of Caylee Anthony testified this week at the trial that ABC paid him $15,000 for the rights to the picture of a snake similar to those that infest the area in central Florida where the child’s body was found.
Roy Kronk told the jury he knew the reason for the payment.
“I was paid for a licensed picture of a snake, but I knew there would probably be an interview involved,” he said.
Kronk appeared on ABC’s “Good Morning America” for an “exclusive interview” in January.
Checkbook journalism, the practice of obtaining exclusive interviews by the roundabout method of licensing photos and videos, violates the SPJ Code of Ethics, which advises journalists to “act independently.” That includes being “wary of sources offering information for favors or money; avoid bidding for news.” Read the full SPJ Code of Ethics.
“This is no longer a developing trend. It’s a habit,” said Kevin Smith, chairman of the SPJ Ethics Committee. “Paying sources for exclusivity, under any name, calls into question the motives of the source and the news outlets.”
This brings to at least $215,000 the amount ABC has paid for exclusive information in the disappearance and death of the two-year-old in June 2008, according to its own accounts. Previous court testimony has disclosed that the network paid $200,000 as a licensing fee for Anthony family photos, money Anthony has used to pay for her legal defense. The network also paid for a three-night hotel stay for the child’s grandparents.
Link: http://www.spj.org/news.asp?REF=1062#1062