DENVER NEWSPAPER CLAIMS BIG MEDIA PAYING SHOOTING WITNESSES

Following last Friday’s shooting in an Aurora, CO theater that left 12 persons dead and dozens of others injured, some media organizations immediately moved in to gain exclusive access to eyewitness by offering them fees of thousands of dollars and requiring them to sign contracts granting them exclusivity, the Denver Post reported on Thursday. The […]

DID ABC DOLLARS SAVE CASEY ANTHONY?

An investigative report on PBS’s Frontline scheduled to air on Tuesday will make the case that forensic specialists brought in by the prosecution in highly publicized cases can be challenged effectively in court — but often at enormous legal costs. In an interview with investigative reporter Lowell Bergman, attorney Jose Baez, who defended Casey Anthony, […]

JOURNALISM PROFS SCORE TV PAYMENTS FOR INTERVIEWS

Following the acknowledgement by Chris Cuomo, co-anchor of ABC’s 20/20 that he paid $15,000 for Meagan Broussard’s sexting exchanges with New York Congressman Anthony Weiner, members of the faculty at Florida’s Poynter Institute have warned about the growing practice of checkbook journalism. Al Tompkins, who heads the broadcast faculty at the journalism institute, has warned […]

ABC’S CUOMO DEFENDS CHECKBOOK JOURNALISM

The ethics of paying sources for stories came under renewed scrutiny over the weekend when 20/20 co-anchor Chris Cuomo confirmed that he had arranged for Meagan Broussard to receive $15,000 ostensibly for photos that were used in his exclusive interview with her about her relationship with Congressman Anthony Weiner. Interviewed by Howard Kurtz on CNN’s […]