Mastering any of these fields includes the need to observe trends critically, and decide what skills are important to secure journalistic standards and press freedom and what tools might be helpful for journalism to evolve further. Based on the results of our study and the work of other media scholars and professionals we believe, that knowledge of the fields of data journalism, collaborative journalism, innovative business models and journalism ethics will be essential for future journalists. The project is embedded in the action type “Strategic partnerships for higher education” and will run for three years until August 2020. This report is the result of the first phase of the project “New skills by the next generation of journalists” funded by Erasmus+. This is largely due to the precarious economic basis of news organizations, lack of effective monitoring, and a pervasive culture of unethical behavior at some sites. The research found that while all three newspapers had clear ethical guidelines in place and editors and journalists recognized the importance of ethical behavior, ethical practice did not always follow. In these African countries, business journalism has been steadily growing since the late 1960s, fuelled by the presence of robust stock exchanges and increasing debate on the issue of business journalism ethics.

The researchers employed document analysis and semi-structured interviews to examine Business Day in South Africa, Business Daily in Kenya and Financial Gazette in Zimbabwe. A number of well-known journalists, such as Walter Cronkite, have suggested forcing disclosure of any payments to be part of the news story.This article aims to provide an insight into the state of business journalism ethics in Africa, firstly, through an examination of newsroom ethical policies and secondly through an exploration of the way in which African business journalists negotiate ethical decision-making in their day-to-day news processing practices.

In situations where a source has been paid for making unproven allegations against a public figure, the mere publication of a story about it has damaged numerous careers, regardless of whether the alleged offense actually took place. Some hazards of chequebook journalism have become more common, as the practice has made celebrities and politicians a lucrative target for tabloids, and a form of public voyeurism which attracts viewers. When payments to a source became disclosed to the public, however, it has even undermined court cases, as when witnesses admitted they had been paid for providing confidential information to the press about the case. Defenders of the practice consider news information to be a commodity, which a source has a right to sell to a reporter for the highest price, in the same way the publication sells its news to the public. Simpson, Princess Diana, and Richard Nixon, where sources were sometimes paid millions of dollars for interviews. Past examples include stories about Michael Jackson, Bill Clinton, O. The promise of high profits makes them more willing to pay for information. In the past, chequebook journalism became an issue after certain news events regarding celebrities and politicians, as they earn the publication substantial income. Or it may give the source an incentive to embellish or exaggerate, and even fabricate details, since part of the bargain with the reporter is to provide them interesting and valuable information. It also creates a potential conflict of interest by the publisher, whose neutrality should always be protected.

The payments are typically for exclusive rights to publish personal information or obtain an interview, which for some news events, leads to bidding wars among the media for access. Since paying a source creates a legal business relationship, it can also affect a journalist's ability to remain objective.

Practice of news reporters paying sources for informationĪmong the reasons cited for why it is unethical to pay a source, one is that it can easily affect the credibility of the information the source provides.

Chequebook journalism definition