NBC shells out $1 million for Paris

In the post-Watergate afterglow, checkbook journalism was practically a capital offense for many of us. Nowadays, of course, not paying for a big story is strictly for wimps - or haven't you heard that NBC has agreed to pay up to $1 million for Paris Hilton's first after-jail interview? As reported by the NY Post, it will be conducted by Meredith Vieira and appear on the "Today" show. Apparently, ABC had been the front-runner (Barbara Walters was getting chummy with Hilton's mom, Kathy), but NBC honcho Jeff Zucker called Hilton's father Rick, who cut the deal. Now it should be noted that responsible news organizations don't pay for information or interviews. Period. But irresponsible ones have been doing it forever. From American Journalism Review:

"A myth of checkbook journalism is no established press has ever paid for a story. The reality is, there is a long history of payments made by the established press when they thought the story was worth pursuing," says Lorna Veraldi, who explored the topic for the book "Contemporary Media Issues," published last year. The New York Times scooped the competition with an exclusive interview with the Titanic wireless operator by forking over $1,000 for his story in 1912. Two decades later, the Hearst newspaper chain paid the legal bills of the defendant in the Lindbergh baby kidnapping case to ensure scoops during the trial. In the 1960s, Life caused a minor flap among journalists when it paid the original Mercury astronauts for their stories. By the time Watergate rolled around, the television networks got involved. CBS News paid Nixon White House Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman for his story. Shortly after leaving office, both Gerald Ford and Henry Kissinger signed million-dollar contracts with NBC to serve as exclusive "adviser-consultants" in news specials.