CHEQUE BOOK JOURNALISM

The controversy over payments to the accusers of Sir Alex Ferguson has
thrown the spotlight onto the vexed question of chequebook journalism at a
time when its practitioners could least do with the scrutiny.

The conduct of the Mail on Sunday and the Sunday Mirror, condemned in South
Africa yesterday, could not have come at a more sensitive time.

South Africa's Sunday Times said Nadia Abrahams had sold her story to the
Mail on Sunday for £75,000, in a deal negotiated by her fiancé Brian Ebden.
He declined to comment yesterday.

At the moment, payments for stories - so long as they are not made to
witnesses before or during court cases - are deemed acceptable if they are
in the "public interest".

The PCC has agreed to toughen its code in return for a guarantee that
ministers - concerned about the effect of payments on high-profile trials -
would not outlaw the practice altogether.

But in the wake of Sir Alex's case there are suggestions that the whole
system of press self-regulation in Britain is inadequate.

Damian Tambini, senior fellow at the Institute of Public Policy Research
thinktank, is recommending an overhaul in a forthcoming IPPR book.

"Cases of chequebook journalism - especially when the allegations are based
on flimsy evidence - are a difficult area and we need to be sure that the
complaints system is working properly."

Chequebook journalism is unlikely to be eradicated completely as tabloid
newspapers - and some broadsheets - have been making such payments for
years.