"Unfortunately, this was the only way that I could stand up to this huge media organization was by taking them to court publicly," she said. "I'm a person that's really confident in my own skin and really felt like it was the right thing to do, to take this company on and prove how disgusting and disgraceful their
checkbook journalism is."
fairness and objectivity, bias,
checkbook journalism, the problems of foreign correspondents, conflicts between ethics and the law, and conflicts between journalists and public relations consultants.
Ensuring Scoops: The Vague Boundaries of
Checkbook JournalismIn this case, the important events unfolded much as they do onscreen: The bold and opportunistic Frost, then hosting a TV show in Australia, put his own money on the line to keep the project alive when all the major networks and most advertisers shied away from the
checkbook journalism involved; Swifty Lazar brokered the deal that would bring Nixon a much-needed $600,000; the former president saw the epic interview as a means of rehabilitating himself, which in turn would lead to a move back East to the corridors of power; and, in what was mutually acknowledged to be a duel in which only one man would prevail, Nixon almost effortlessly controlled the interview until Frost turned the tables in a desperate, last-minute ploy.
The administration has given a whole new meaning to
checkbook journalism, paying a stupendous $97 million to an outside PR firm to buy columnists and produce propaganda, including faux video news releases.The only balance W.
IT WAS ONE OF THE MOST BRAZEN MOMENTS IN the not-altogether-distinguished history of
checkbook journalism. Last October, Hustler magazine Publisher Larry Flynt placed an ad in the Washington Post offering up to $1 million to anyone who could prove a member of Congress or a high-ranking government official had carried on an adulterous affair.
meetings consist of what movie star is sleeping with whom instead of how much over budget the new road project may be, where the newspaper offers the services of a yacht to a movie star in exchange for an exclusive interview -
checkbook journalism at its finest - and where reporters storm a celebrity's island wedding on horseback, by helicopter and from the sea in an effort to get a photo exclusive.
As a result, Chinese newspapers are riding an unprecedented spin of
checkbook journalism. With the exception of perhaps the few government announcements and editorials, every word in "news stories" is paid for by commercial sponsors, either the companies in the "news," or special interest groups that are willing to pay to have the story printed.
Paying individuals for information, known as "
checkbook journalism,"(14) is a relatively new practice which entails its own peculiar package of risks to fair trials.(15) By taking money from a tabloid media outlet in exchange for information about which she will testify in court, a witness may subvert a trial's integrity and a defendant's right to a fair trial.
There is a section on Programming Ethics, including a discussion of
checkbook journalism.
Several years ago, TV producers realized that newsmagazines also could win big audiences by telling compelling stories like "the tabs." Network producers have thankfully eschewed the tabs' penchant for reenactment and
checkbook journalism. Of course, network news producers are often graduates of the nation's journalism schools, while the tabs are run largely by a mafia of Australian journalists, many of whom have done time in Rupert Murdoch's media empire.
For lots of people the story was the story: The Star's
checkbook journalism, the "60 Minutes" rebuttal, and so forth.