Monday, March 22, 2010

ABC News: "Checkbook Journalism"

In which ABC News waits two years to admit a $200,000 payment to accused child-killer Casey Anthony. Great piece.

A highlight:

"Some argue the money doesn't distort coverage, but that seems a fantasy. If a news outlet pays $200,000 for access to a source, will they report information which limits or ends that source's value as a news source? Will they report stories which anger the source and make them uncooperative?

"In Anthony's case, ABC News had the answer to a question which had been bugging observers of her case for a while: How does a woman who was unemployed for a year before her arrest pay a "dream team" of defense attorneys? But viewers never learned that information from ABC News, because it was already ethically compromised."

Read the whole article at The Feed, a blog on TV, media and modern life by St. Petersburg Times TV/media critic Eric Deggans. Then send Deggans a complimentary e-mail at deggans@sptimes.com.

(Link via Super Punch. The image above is from Common Sense Journal.)

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