Prime takes broadside over ethics

TV3 and TVNZ have drawn lines in the sand about paying for exclusive interviews after Prime's CEO Chris Taylor said he was relaxed about the practice.

With three current affairs shows soon competing for audience in the 7pm slot, media commentators are wondering whether chequebook journalism will become common.

The heads of news at TV3 and TV One both said it was policy never to pay for an interview or story.

Prime chief executive Chris Taylor and his programmer, Andrew Shaw, are relaxed about the idea.

Shaw said it had not happened on Paul Holmes and it "would have to be a very good story".

Mark Jennings said TV3 would strongly resist any moves in that direction, but it had to be tempered with commercial reality.

"Our stance is that we don't pay for stories. I would hate to see it develop this way. There are big rumours afoot that it is already happening. I don't see us doing it unless we're forced into it ... it's certainly something I really hope doesn't arise."

His star performer, John Campbell, is strongly against chequebook journalism.

"We won't pay for interviews under any circumstances.

"I would never, in my time in telly, pay for them and I don't think we should.

"I just think it's wrong," Campbell said.

"Two things happen: you are sometimes rewarding people who are scoundrels and it compromises you because you're telling them what to say."

TVNZ head of current affairs Bill Ralston said the state broadcaster's code of ethics precluded paying for interviews, or exclusives.

He said the network had paid for security if interview subjects and sources were in danger, and for legal advice if they needed it.

"If you pay someone to do an exclusive, you feel like you have a debt to that person. I believe there's a tendency to be softer on them and it's a bit like buying a witness - they will do almost anything to justify the fee."

He said Prime's acknowledgement that they would pay "showed their lack of understanding of the New Zealand market and any form of journalistic understanding".

Jim Tully, head of Canterbury University's journalism school, said it would be a shame if mainstream news media turned to chequebook journalism.

"If one of the three started picking up exclusives like that, I suspect it would be very difficult for the others not to get involved," he said.

"The serious newsmaker is not going to expect payment and serious kinds of stories are probably going to be very much in the realm of TV One and TV3.

"The sort of people you buy stories from are victims and others who have had bizarre, unusual experiences, or have been involved with strange people, so it's going to be more of the lightweight stuff."