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There are many ways that news is reported like interviews, pictures, videos and on paper. Journalists are the people who find this news and have their own methods to do so. The Society of Professional Journalists have ethics that they believe are right in how to gather information from sources. Journalists believe that information should be gathered from sources without needing to pay them. For a very long time a separate side of journalism has existed and it does not appear to be leaving any time soon. This is known as check book journalism and in many journalists eyes it has been corrupting the profession of journalism. Check book journalism is "The practice of paying large amounts of money for exclusive rights to material for newspaper stories, especially personal ones." The use of money like this in journalism is very risky and concerning for the whole news community as it could lead to many big problems in the future. Corruption is one of the main issues that could arise with money being used in gathering information from sources. However there are specific cases where paying for sources is not a bad thing and can be justified. News organizations should not be paying sources for information or evidence because of the many risks that come with it and it corrupting professional journalism.

There are many risks involved with news organizations paying sources for the information that they receive. For instance, paying sources for news could lead to bidding wars between different news organizations. If people see that one organization is willing to pay a certain amount of money for information they could explore the offers from other news organizations and start a bidding war. An example of a huge amount of money involved in biding for information is in this article. British journalist David Frost outbid American competitors by offering Richard M. Nixon $600,000 for an interview This is a very large amount of money for an interview and leads right into the next issue which is news organizations losing money. News organizations have been losing a lot of money for a while now and chequebook journalism just makes them lose even more money. This article contains a few examples of different companies paying a lot of money just for exclusive interviews or pictures and videos. Furthermore, paying news sources lead to people questioning the credibility of the writer and information. As stated by the Society of Professional Journalists and Knight Kiplinger credibility becomes a concern because people are not sure wether this information is the truth or what the public wants to hear. News organizations that consistently pay for news are taking a huge risk every time they pay someone because if the information is found to be false, people will not want to purchase their newspapers or hear what they have to say in the future. The reputation of the journalists will fall quickly and the companies with it.

Corruption can also occur when news organizations are paying their sources for information. Corruption can become a serious problem when money gets involved especially when dealing with information which talked about here. As talked about in this blog people can easily tell journalists what they want to hear and make money. People can take advantage of journalists looking for news stories and make something that is believable. In addition, people could be lying but other people could be telling the truth only if they get paid. This is another corrupt situation that could occur where people will only give information if they are paid not because it's the right thing to do. Furthermore, corruption could occur with the news that is presented to the public. The rich have lots of power and it can influence the news greatly if chequebook journalism continues. As talked about in this piece the rich could put money into what they want and have that on the news daily or on the other hand suppress what they do not want people to see.

Chequebook journalism is not accepted by the majority of professionals in journalism but there have been instances where it was not really a bad thing. For example, when Toronto Mayor Rob Ford had a video of him ranting and talking about killing someone was purchased for $5,000. This is still seen as unethical to pay the source for this information which should have been turned over as it is the right thing to do. However, he was a mayor of a city and this needed to be shown to the public because they deserve to know about the man running the place they live in. Roy Greenslade calls this a special situation in his article but it does not mean anything can be a special situation.

In conclusion, information and news is what journalism is made of and gathering this news in ethical ways is very important. News organizations and journalists need to be careful with chequebook journalism and not let it consume the whole profession. Canada does not have a big problem with chequebook journalism in fact it is rare here. Britain on the other hand has huge problem and USA is right behind it. Chequebook journalism can be stopped if news organizations have ethics that are completely against paying sources for money. If companies and journalists slowly stop paying their sources then people will not look for money when they have information rather they will give it away for free because its the right thing to do.

Sources:

Should News Organizations Pay Their Sources? (n.d.). Retrieved July 31, 2017, from http://www.kiplinger.com/article/business/T008-C013-S002-should-news-organizations-pay-their-sources.html

Greenslade, R. (2013, November 15). Toronto Star was right to pay for video of mayor's drunken rant. Retrieved July 31, 2017, from https://www.theguardian.com/media/2013/nov/15/toronto-star-was-right-to-pay-for-video-of-mayors-drunken-rant?CMP=twt_fd

(n.d.). Retrieved July 31, 2017, from http://www.spj.org/ethicscode.asp

Peters, J. W. (2011, August 06). Paying for News? It’s Nothing New. Retrieved July 31, 2017, from http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/07/sunday-review/paying-for-news-its-nothing-new.html

Rogers, T. (n.d.). Why Shouldn't Reporters or News Outlets Pay Sources for Information? Retrieved July 31, 2017, from https://www.thoughtco.com/why-reporters-should-avoid-checkbook-journalism-2073718

(n.d.). Retrieved July 31, 2017, from http://www.spj.org/ethics-papers-cbj.asp

Checkbook Journalism's Slippery Slope. (n.d.). Retrieved July 31, 2017, from http://archives.cjr.org/the_audit/checkbook_journalisms_slippery.php

(2013, November 13). Retrieved July 31, 2017, from http://www.j-source.ca/article/should-media-pay-news

Shafer, J. (2010, April 29). Why not pay sources? My objections are practical, not ethical. Retrieved July 31, 2017, from http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/press_box/2010/04/why_not_pay_sources.html

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