NBC News Pays Whitney Houston's Hairstylist For Photos

NBC News' Exclusive With Houston's Hairstylist Comes At A Price

The battle over checkbook journalism at the major networks continues, after NBC News reportedly licensed photos from Whitney Houston's hairstylist.

NBC News nabbed an exclusive interview with Tiffanie Dixon, one of the few people present in Whitney Houston's hotel room at the time of her death.

The network, which has spoken out against the practice of "paying" for interviews, reportedly licensed photos from Dixon, Houston's hairstylist, when they interviewed her for two NBC News shows, "Dateline" and "Today." NBC's Tamron Hall had said that they were licensed when they appeared on-screen.

While American networks forbid "paying" people for interviews, they sometimes pay individuals licensing fees for their photos or videos in exchange for exclusive interviews. The controversial practice is seen as unethical by some.

Rival news bureaus NBC and ABC had a rather testy exchange about this very subject in July 2011. ABC News announced that the network was suspending the practice after some heated criticism.

The declaration opened up a war of words with NBC, which said, "We agree that their recent activity has been bad for journalism and the news industry. And we welcome them back to the practices that we work hard to uphold."

ABC's Barbara Walters recently stuck to the new standard after rumors swirled that she was reportedly asking ABC News to pay Pippa Middleton a six-figure sum for an exclusive interview. "ABC News does not pay for interviews," Walters pressed during her daytime talk show "The View."

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