Letter to the Editor:
Chequebook Journalism

The issue of chequebook journalism in Professor Flint's February column deserves a more penetrating analysis. The obvious concerns include:

• How will the ABC, the SBS and smaller publishers fare if this insidious practice is allowed to continue? Logically it means the juicy stories will go to the glossies, with the ethical media outlets picking over the crumbs.
• How does chequebook journalism fare against the AJA code of ethics, particularly Clause 1 where we are supposed to disclose, not suppress and not distort?
• And Clause 5 on my reading runs directly counter to Chequebook journalism. (This is the section dealing with influence and disclosing offers.)
• What will it do to the already damaged credibility of the media? How can media consumers trust what they read, see and hear if financial deals have been done? There's nothing objective and balanced about a report where money has changed hands.
• Part of the problem is caused by the outrageous fees charged by lawyers. Twice in one week I've been asked for money by people who have been acquitted of charges but left with a hefty legal bill.
• Because the evil is well entrenched in the UK it doesn't mean we should accept it uncritically in Australia.
• The big media proprietors are unlikely to stop the practice so it's up to journalists and the Press Council. We've stopped death-knocks, not because the bosses said so, but because we were repelled by intruding on grief. We can do the same with chequebook journalism.

Duncan Graham
Wordstars Pty Ltd
14 Sayer Street, MIDLAND WA 6056

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