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Tuesday, August 25, 2009

How 20/20 landed La Toya without paying!


The network news organizations don't pay for interviews. When one of them lands a great "get"-- meaning an in-demand interview subject-- its because of their powers of persuasion and the confidence their integrity inspires. Yeah, right. If you believe that, we've got a great health care reform bill that will solve everything. Network news operations from the Today show to 60 Minutes pay for interviews-- although they use very creative methods to get around having to admit it. Our pal the Rumor Rat has the latest example as it looks at the "coincidence" of La Toya Jackson guest-hosting ABC's Barbara Walters show, The View, while agreeing to give "her first one-on-one" interview to Barbara Walters on ABC's 20/20-- and finds it's no coincidence at all.

In fact, it's what we've been telling you-- and what the networks have been denying-- for the past ten years.

They pay.

Writes The Rat:


"How's this for coincidence: LaToya Jackson is recruited to co-host ABC's The View for two days at almost exactly the same time she decides to give her first one-on-one U.S. television interview to "20/20" which airs on the same network.

"Not buying it? Neither are we...

"A source tells The Rat that ABC, which 'never pays for interviews,' has worked out a deal with Jackson whereby she's paid a much higher-than-normal fee for co-hosting The View.

"In exchange, she throws in a 'free' interview with 20/20..."

That's how they do things at the networks. And that's another reason Rumor Rat is becoming a go-to site for lots of influential people in the media. While Perez Hilton slips dangerously, posting a surprising number of day-old and older used stories and the corporate porn-pushing gossip site TMZ.com becomes more irrelevant with its subliterate, crass childishness, Rumor Rat is having great fun taunting both of the mainstream-backed phonies while making great use of the sources it seems to have in every network newsroom and infotainment show studio office.

Read the rest of Rumor Rat's story here.

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