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CIA, FBI RECRUITING MINORITY JOURNALISTS
RICHARD PRINCE, JOURNAL-ISMS - The CIA says it recruited at the National
Association of Hispanic Journalists convention because writing skills
are central to many jobs at the agency. The CIA staffed a booth at the
job fair at the National Association of Hispanic Journalists convention
in San Jose, and the FBI is planning one at the annual conference of the
National Association of Black Journalists in Las Vegas in August.
While the Hispanic journalists apparently had no problem with the CIA's
presence, NABJ had evicted the CIA from its job fair in 1989 and did the
same to the FBI in 1991 after members were outraged by being associated
with the two agencies. NABJ voted in 1989 to exclude government programs
from its job fair, a decision that is not believed to have been
rescinded.
"The FBI is not a journalism organization. It's inappropriate for them
to be here," then-NABJ president Thomas Morgan III said in 1991.
Morgan wrote two years earlier, "Our members believe that the appearance
of the CIA could have compromised our position as an independent
objective organization of professional journalists who often take an
adversarial role with the government in the interests of good
citizenship."
In "Black Journalists: The NABJ Story," Wayne Dawkins wrote, "Modern-day
black journalists feared being labeled or used as spies by the
white-majority government, or worse yet, becoming the spy and police
agencies of government. NABJ asked the two black women CIA
representatives to leave. The intelligence money was returned."
. . . NABJ President Bryan Monroe, informed Wednesday afternoon that the
FBI's recruiting firm had purchased a booth at the upcoming NABJ
convention, said Wednesday night, "We're looking into it right now."
http://www.maynardije.org/columns/dickprince/070620_prince/
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CHECKBOOK JOURNALISM AT THE NETWORKS
NY TIMES - Representatives of ABC News said yesterday that they had
lost to NBC for the first interview with Paris Hilton after her release
from jail next week because ABC was unwilling to make a "high six-figure
deal" with Ms. Hilton's family. Paris Hilton, in jail in California, was
said to prefer Meredith Vieira.
NBC executives did not deny that they had had discussions about
interview rights with Ms. Hilton, though the news division said
yesterday that it could not yet confirm any interview would take place.
The spokeswoman for NBC News, Allison Gollust, insisted, however, that
"NBC News does not pay for interviews - never have, never will.". . .
According to the ABC representatives, who asked not to be further
identified because they were not authorized to reveal details of the
negotiations, ABC had agreed to pay $100,000 to the Hilton family in a
deal for the interview. The deal would have included access to materials
owned by the family, like photographs or videos of Ms. Hilton.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/22/arts/television/22paris.html?_
r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
LA TIMES - It remains unclear whether the interview, reportedly to be
conducted by "Today's" Meredith Vieira, has been finalized. Allison
Gollust, a spokeswoman for NBC News, said the news division has no
commitment from Hilton for an interview, adding that "NBC News has not
and will not pay for an interview."
But NBC's entertainment division has been in discussions with Hilton's
camp, according to network sources, and could compensate Hilton through
a development deal, effectively circumventing the news division's policy
prohibiting payments for interviews. . .
CBS News offered Jessica Lynch possible movie and book deals through its
sister corporate divisions in an effort to land an exclusive with the
former U.S. Army private in 2003. ABC News paid Steve Irwin's widow
hundreds of thousands of dollars to use footage of the late naturalist
in a prime-time interview with Barbara Walters last fall. (ABC
executives said the license fee was necessary because Irwin's widow,
Terri, owned all the footage of the "Crocodile Hunter," who died in
September.)
This spring, NBC agreed to pay a reported $2.5 million for the rights to
air a tribute concert in July marking the 10th anniversary of the death
of Princess Diana. Subsequently, Matt Lauer landed an exclusive with
Princes Harry and William, which aired in prime time Monday.
"It seems like there are end-runs all over the place, and they are being
done in the name of competition," said Al Tompkins, who teaches
broadcast ethics at the Poynter Institute, a media resource and school
in Florida. "I don't know what transpired here, but what I do know is
that any compensation that comes through a network - whether it's a book
deal or movie deal or offering special access - none of that has any
place in news.
"In the end, that is not what builds network credibility. People are not
going to tune into any network based on who gets Paris Hilton. It just
adds an even more unseemly element to a story that seemed like it
couldn't get more unseemly.". . .
The report of NBC's payment rankled many news division employees,
already demoralized by a round of layoffs and other cost-cutting
mandated by a corporate restructuring effort dubbed NBCU 2.0. But others
saw the move as a necessary one to bolster "Today," the division's
biggest moneymaker, which has suffered rating declines this season. The
program drew an average of 5.6 million viewers through mid-June, down 6%
from last season.
"The 'Today' show is in the fight of their lives," said one high-level
editorial employee. "We've got to win."
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/celebrity/la-et-nbc22jun22,
1,2494128.story?ctrack=6&cset=true
HOWARD KURTZ WASHINGTON POST - Paris Hilton, responding to reports that
NBC has offered her a large sum in seeking her first post-jail
appearance, said last night that she is not accepting a dime for any
television interview. . . The broadcast networks have rules against
paying for interviews but often find creative ways around them,
sometimes by paying for photographs and home movies.. . . In 2003, CBS's
"60 Minutes" scored an interview with Michael Jackson right after the
network's entertainment division agreed to air a music special featuring
the singer, who was then charged with child molestation. . .
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/21/
AR2007062102472.html
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CIA, FBI RECRUITING MINORITY JOURNALISTS
RICHARD PRINCE, JOURNAL-ISMS - The CIA says it recruited at the National
Association of Hispanic Journalists convention because writing skills
are central to many jobs at the agency. The CIA staffed a booth at the
job fair at the National Association of Hispanic Journalists convention
in San Jose, and the FBI is planning one at the annual conference of the
National Association of Black Journalists in Las Vegas in August.
While the Hispanic journalists apparently had no problem with the CIA's
presence, NABJ had evicted the CIA from its job fair in 1989 and did the
same to the FBI in 1991 after members were outraged by being associated
with the two agencies. NABJ voted in 1989 to exclude government programs
from its job fair, a decision that is not believed to have been
rescinded.
"The FBI is not a journalism organization. It's inappropriate for them
to be here," then-NABJ president Thomas Morgan III said in 1991.
Morgan wrote two years earlier, "Our members believe that the appearance
of the CIA could have compromised our position as an independent
objective organization of professional journalists who often take an
adversarial role with the government in the interests of good
citizenship."
In "Black Journalists: The NABJ Story," Wayne Dawkins wrote, "Modern-day
black journalists feared being labeled or used as spies by the
white-majority government, or worse yet, becoming the spy and police
agencies of government. NABJ asked the two black women CIA
representatives to leave. The intelligence money was returned."
. . . NABJ President Bryan Monroe, informed Wednesday afternoon that the
FBI's recruiting firm had purchased a booth at the upcoming NABJ
convention, said Wednesday night, "We're looking into it right now."
http://www.maynardije.org/columns/dickprince/070620_prince/
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
CHECKBOOK JOURNALISM AT THE NETWORKS
NY TIMES - Representatives of ABC News said yesterday that they had
lost to NBC for the first interview with Paris Hilton after her release
from jail next week because ABC was unwilling to make a "high six-figure
deal" with Ms. Hilton's family. Paris Hilton, in jail in California, was
said to prefer Meredith Vieira.
NBC executives did not deny that they had had discussions about
interview rights with Ms. Hilton, though the news division said
yesterday that it could not yet confirm any interview would take place.
The spokeswoman for NBC News, Allison Gollust, insisted, however, that
"NBC News does not pay for interviews - never have, never will.". . .
According to the ABC representatives, who asked not to be further
identified because they were not authorized to reveal details of the
negotiations, ABC had agreed to pay $100,000 to the Hilton family in a
deal for the interview. The deal would have included access to materials
owned by the family, like photographs or videos of Ms. Hilton.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/22/arts/television/22paris.html?_
r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
LA TIMES - It remains unclear whether the interview, reportedly to be
conducted by "Today's" Meredith Vieira, has been finalized. Allison
Gollust, a spokeswoman for NBC News, said the news division has no
commitment from Hilton for an interview, adding that "NBC News has not
and will not pay for an interview."
But NBC's entertainment division has been in discussions with Hilton's
camp, according to network sources, and could compensate Hilton through
a development deal, effectively circumventing the news division's policy
prohibiting payments for interviews. . .
CBS News offered Jessica Lynch possible movie and book deals through its
sister corporate divisions in an effort to land an exclusive with the
former U.S. Army private in 2003. ABC News paid Steve Irwin's widow
hundreds of thousands of dollars to use footage of the late naturalist
in a prime-time interview with Barbara Walters last fall. (ABC
executives said the license fee was necessary because Irwin's widow,
Terri, owned all the footage of the "Crocodile Hunter," who died in
September.)
This spring, NBC agreed to pay a reported $2.5 million for the rights to
air a tribute concert in July marking the 10th anniversary of the death
of Princess Diana. Subsequently, Matt Lauer landed an exclusive with
Princes Harry and William, which aired in prime time Monday.
"It seems like there are end-runs all over the place, and they are being
done in the name of competition," said Al Tompkins, who teaches
broadcast ethics at the Poynter Institute, a media resource and school
in Florida. "I don't know what transpired here, but what I do know is
that any compensation that comes through a network - whether it's a book
deal or movie deal or offering special access - none of that has any
place in news.
"In the end, that is not what builds network credibility. People are not
going to tune into any network based on who gets Paris Hilton. It just
adds an even more unseemly element to a story that seemed like it
couldn't get more unseemly.". . .
The report of NBC's payment rankled many news division employees,
already demoralized by a round of layoffs and other cost-cutting
mandated by a corporate restructuring effort dubbed NBCU 2.0. But others
saw the move as a necessary one to bolster "Today," the division's
biggest moneymaker, which has suffered rating declines this season. The
program drew an average of 5.6 million viewers through mid-June, down 6%
from last season.
"The 'Today' show is in the fight of their lives," said one high-level
editorial employee. "We've got to win."
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/celebrity/la-et-nbc22jun22,
1,2494128.story?ctrack=6&cset=true
HOWARD KURTZ WASHINGTON POST - Paris Hilton, responding to reports that
NBC has offered her a large sum in seeking her first post-jail
appearance, said last night that she is not accepting a dime for any
television interview. . . The broadcast networks have rules against
paying for interviews but often find creative ways around them,
sometimes by paying for photographs and home movies.. . . In 2003, CBS's
"60 Minutes" scored an interview with Michael Jackson right after the
network's entertainment division agreed to air a music special featuring
the singer, who was then charged with child molestation. . .
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/21/
AR2007062102472.html
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