Should Journalists Pay for Information?

BRETT FAVRE ALLEGEDLY used his cell phone to send images of his man parts to a former New York Jets sideline reporter. The website Deadspin paid $12,000 for the images and voicemails that Favre allegedly left the reporter.

Is there anything wrong with journalists paying for information?

"When you pay for a story, you're making a contract with the person who supplies it and that means you're no longer acting independently," Hagit Limor, the president of the Society of Professional Journalists, told the Washington Post. "People will say anything in pursuit of money. The public should assume you're reporting something because it's true, not because someone received money to say it."

Still, many news outlets find ways of compensating subjects of their stories, even if the compensation doesn't take the form of a direct payment.

If it is common practice, is it still wrong?

(Image via the New York Sun)