Paying sources for stories? So not kosher at newspapers of record, but it's standard practice in the tabloid biz, no matter how many denials editors deliver.

But a tabloid other than OK! owning up to it? Psshaw. Until, that is, Star's Candace Trunzo owned up to it.

"We do pay for information," she says. "I make no qualms about it. I think all the celebrity magazines do it." They've even started printing the 800 number for a tip line, like TMZ.com does, with promises of $100 or more for information. (To the half dozen tabloid veterans who've spoken to us on the issue, it's generally accepted knowledge that TMZ pays for information. TMZ denies the charge. Like People, they're a Time Warner company, and paying sources would violate policy..)

It's all part of Candace's plan to re-supermarket-ize Star — an about-face to its mission not so long ago to glossy it up. And given Trunzo's tightknit relationship with AMI cousin National Enquirer, and its editor David Perel, the process is probably further along than you think.

Worth noting is that when Bonnie Fuller took over at the tabloid after reigning over Us Weekly, she insisted the magazine would differentiate itself from the other newsstand garbage, even though it was widely suspected scoops were still paid for under her watch.

So what's the big deal about paying for information?

At a magazine like People, where journalistic integrity is of utmost importance, thanks to Time Inc.'s ethics policies, they can't be open about it. Instead, they pay massive fees for licensing photos, which are copyrighted material that have to be paid for. Facts and information, on the other hand, aren't things you can register with a government office, which means it's the indispensable realm of true journalists, no matter how sleazy.