Sarah Ferguson Sting Prompts Tabloid Tactic Debate

May 26, 2010 — -- This week's stunning undercover video of the Duchess of York exchanging a bundle of cash for access to Prince Andrew is the latest tabloid sting that has experts wondering if there is a place in the journalism world for such tactics.

From Sarah Ferguson's embarrassing deal with News of the World reporter Mazher Mahmood, posing as a businessman, to the National Enquirer's outing of one-time presidential candidate John Edward's love child with mistress Rielle Hunter, tabloids are getting credit for breaking significant scoops.

"We should not be so quick to look down our noses at a papers like the National Enquirer," Washington Post media writer Howard Kurtz told "Good Morning America" today.

But are traditional tabloid tactics -- including deception and paying sources for information -- acceptable if it results in a scandal the public should know about?

In Ferguson's case, she was one of several people who have been snared by Mahmood, dubbed the "fake sheikh" for his penchant for posing as a wealthy businessman to trap politicians and other high profile figures.

He came to his meeting with Ferguson prepared with a $40,000 down payment -- clearly visible in the video -- and she agreed to accept a total of 500,000 pounds, or more than $700,000, for "open doors" access to Andrew.

Another royal, Prince Edward's wife the Countess of Wessex, was another of Mahmood's victims, recorded making disparaging remarks about the then-prime minister's wife.

Bonnie Fuller, editor-in-chief of HollywoodLife.com, questioned exactly what public service News of the World provided in the Ferguson sting besides, "selling a ton of newspapers."

The Edwards case was different, Fuller said.

"I don't know if the Fergie story is public service," she said. "I feel the John Edwards story... did provide a service to the American public. I don't think we would have had to elect him as president and then have had our attention derailed from news that he had a love child."

The paper was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for its effort, a first for a tabloid paper.

"We're doing the heavy lifting now that the papers like the New York Times and the Washington Post used to do," National Enquirer Executive Editor Barry Levine said.

The paper also discovered Rachel Uchitel, one of the first of many women who would come forward to claim affairs with golf great Tiger Woods, by polygraphing sources, using disguises and tracking Uchitel around the globe.

"I'm not a fan of checkbook journalism, but what the National Enquirer did in the John Edwards case was old fashioned street journalism," Kurtz said, pointing to the months its reporters spent staking out Hunter and Edwards and cultivating sources. "Tenacity is important in journalism. So much of what we do now is short sighted."