![chequebook journalism chequebook journalism](https://www.imediaethics.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/vtg-miami-card.jpg)
![chequebook journalism chequebook journalism](https://c1.thejournal.ie/media/2016/05/08042016-general-election-2016-government-forma-2-390x285.jpg)
![chequebook journalism chequebook journalism](https://nicholsoncartoons.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/2006-12-14-Christmas-chequebook-journalism-550.jpg)
In North America, paying money for interviews, although not necessarily illegal, is generally frowned upon. The rescue of the Australian miners in the Beaconsfield mine collapse renewed public awareness of chequebook journalism, as the TV networks and their stakeholders bid for the exclusive rights to the story as told by miners Todd Russell and Brant Webb, who were trapped underground for 2 weeks. In the UK the print media uses it extensively, due to its geographic layout being conducive to the distribution of newspapers. In Australia chequebook journalism is viewed as a symptom of the fiercely competitive commercial television industry (most notably amongst current affairs programs). Chequebook Journalism / Paying for Interviews Issued: This Guidance Note covers the practice of paying talent for the right (often exclusive) to publish or broadcast topical or newsworthy information.
CHEQUEBOOK JOURNALISM TRIAL
The News of the World became a notorious publication for such practices, often discovered attempting to buy stories off key witnesses in criminal trials such as the Moors murders case, and the 1999 trial of Gary Glitter on charges of assaulting an underage teenage fan shortly before its closure in 2011 the paper was revealed to have bribed police officers to obtain material for a series of news stories concerning Jennifer Elliott, daughter of the actor Denholm Elliott. Nine paid money to begin the whole sorry story and paid money to end it. The phrase " chequebook journalism" is often used pejoratively, with the suggestion being that stories obtained by paying people are not so worthy as those obtained by traditional investigations. Following the debacle involving 60 Minutes in Lebanon this week, chequebook journalism is now under the microscope. Chequebook journalism (or checkbook journalism in American English) is the form of journalism where the essential characteristic is that the journalist pays the subject of the work money for the right to publish his story.