It s not illegal, but it s long been considered unethical for journalists to pay their sources. It still happens, but generally by tabloids. WikiLeaks  Julian Assange believes that his is not a tabloid, and in fact, he believes that he is so far above mainstream media sources, that it s okay for him to pay for stories, which is exactly what he s doing, trying to dig up dirt on both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Police rewards product results. So do journalistic rewards,  a spokesperson for Sunshine Press, of which Wikileaks is a project, told Huffington Post in an email.  Those who take the truth seriously leave no stone unturned to find it. As for the ethics, well, WikiLeaks breaths rarified air: Some lesser publications have poor quality control and as a consequence are not able to maintain accuracy when financial incentives are involved. Or frankly, even when they are not,  the spokesperson said, pointing to the New York Times publishing false information about Iraq having weapons of mass destruction as an example.  WikiLeaks  vetting process is strong enough not to be affected by an increase in source contributions. Wait, what? WikiLeaks has a vetting process? This is the same organization that published more than 80 strains of malware in its most recent email dump. Oh, and there s a reason they re called email dumps   WikiLeaks doesn t vet, they simply dump, leaving other journalists to sort through to find the real information. While the New York Times certainly doesn t deserve the level of respect they had before the Iraq War, I can say with certainty that they ve never infected my computer with malware.This isn t the first time WikiLeaks has paid to play. Last year, they offered $100,000 for information relating to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Earlier in the month, WikiLeaks offered $20,000 for anyone with information that might link the murder of a DNC staffer in Washington D.C. to the Hillary Clinton campaign. All they ended up doing was fueling Alex Jones-type conspiracy theorists.Assange has received a lot of criticism from those on the left, claiming that he s trying to put his thumb on the scale of our electoral process in an attempt to defeat Clinton. I m sure his claim that he s also going after Trump is a convincing cover for that, but think about it. Assange is offering $100,000. Trump could easily double or triple that to keep someone quiet. Yes, the Clintons have money, but not Trump money.Featured image via Carl Court/Getty Images.