Paying for stories is losing its taboo

Three of the past month’s accidental celebrities - Jasper Schuringa, who helped thwart an attack on a Detroit-bound plane; David Goldman, who took a custody fight for his son to Brazil; and the White House party-crashing Salahis - have either sought or received goodies from TV networks eager to hear their stories.

Schuringa gave interviews to outlets that had agreed to purchase blurry cellphone images he’d taken of a man who authorities say tried to use explosives to take down the plane. Goldman and his son accepted NBC’s offer of a ride home from Brazil on a charter airplane.

Representatives for Michaele and Tareq Salahi, who embarrassed the Obama administration by sneaking into a state dinner, were reportedly seeking six-figure bids from networks to tell their story.

“I don’t know if people would have thought of that in the past,’’ said Andy Schotz, head of the ethics committee for the Society of Professional Journalists. “But now often the first thing people think of is to get a publicist, a lawyer, and an agent and figure out how to make money’’ from instant notoriety, he said.

The society condemned NBC for “checkbook journalism’’ with the Goldman trip. NBC said it had already chartered a plane to bring its personnel back from Brazil, and Goldman’s lawyer said the invitation was accepted so father and son could avoid being accosted by multiple camera crews on the way home.

But NBC took multiple pictures and interviewed Goldman on the plane before his exclusive “Today’’ interview with Meredith Vieira. And the network seems immune to the industry’s financial troubles: A chartered jet from Brazil to New York would cost about $90,000, according to Blue Star Jets, a New York-based charter company. Going commercial, a coach seat runs under $1,400.

Policies against paying for interviews are in place to avoid distorting the news. The concern is that news subjects will change their stories to make them more valuable or please those who paid them.

Evasion efforts seem centered primarily on ultra-competitive morning news shows and prime-time magazines. These outlets now fight for stories that might have been considered tabloid fodder years ago, often against websites or other outlets that won’t hesitate to pay for an interview or information.

Paul Levinson, head of the communications department at Fordham University, said he’s been paid for interviews by the British Broadcasting Corp. (“I’m not allergic to money,’’ he said.) He said he can’t recall a case where the story was distorted because money was exchanged and argues that the policy doesn’t make sense.

“It has always been the case that our free press operates in a capitalist economy - meaning money is involved, whether we like it or not,’’ he said.