than he was paid to give a concert. "Freedom of the press is much more costly than the public realizes." Lowered journalism standards Chequebook journalism has existed in the U.S. for over a hundred years. In 1912 The New York Times paid a wireless operator on the Titanic $1,000 for his story; Life magazine paid the seven Mercury astronauts for their stories in the 1960s. Such payments were not necessarily in cash, as when Hearst newspapers paid the legal bills for the man who kidnapped Charles Lindbergh's son in 1935 in order to get his exclusive story. More recently, ABC gave Michael Jackson a series of free ads promoting his new album on the same week they interviewed him; those ads in 1995 on Prime Time Live, were valued at $1 million. Although cash is still the best way to buy stories, says TV reporter Don Rey, who first reported the Jackson case: "When the Jackson scandal broke, the British hacks on Fleet Street were loading up on airplanes with bags stuffed full of money to buy whatever information they could." Although much of the mainstream media opposes any form of payment to news sources, they often will try to compensate their sources indirectly with non-cash benefits, which allows them to claim they did not pay for a story. Such indirect methods may include referring to sources as "consultants," covering source's travel costs, arranging accommodations and covering meal costs, paying for local transportation, arranging their entertainment; and doing so for the source, their family and even friends. According to David Shribman of the Boston Globe, until recently, reporters treated allegations against individuals, including political officials, in much same way: They sought to verify the allegations before putting them into print. Generally, they were made public only after they had been made part of a court record, usually a lawsuit or criminal complaint. In recent years, however, unsubstantiated or unofficial allegations made to a reporter can gain "almost immediate coverage," says Everette Dennis, formerly executive director of the Media Studies Center at Columbia University. And "once it appears someplace the traditional media feel perfectly free to pick it up. That’s a lower standard than we used to have," he said. Mike Bass, executive vice president at CNN, also noted a future of lowering standards when he wrote that the "whole notion of checkbook journalism stinks. You start paying a few people