In recent weeks there has been a renewed public attention on the practice by some news organizations of paying news subjects for access. Most prominent was its $200,000 payment in 2008 to Casey Anthony, recently acquitted on a charge of killing her child, but there have been others.

Howard Kurtz of Newsweek/The Daily Beast reports today that ABC News has decided to discontinue the practice, principally because it worries about the impact on its credibility. The move means ABC News might be out of the competitive business for big bookings, but it believes the lost reputation is greater than any lost bookings.

The result, Kurtz says, is that ABC will not pay for photos or videos associated with the news subject.