Two U.S. networks pass on Paris Hilton interview

[catlover79]

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Paris Hilton appeared to be a celebrity without a spotlight on Friday after two major U.S. television networks snubbed the hotel heiress they initially fought over for a first post-jail interview.

An ABC executive said his network declined interview offers from the multimillionaire socialite after Hilton and her mother, Kathy, personally sought to secure a deal in a flurry of telephone calls to ABC News veteran Barbara Walters.

Meanwhile, rival network NBC issued a statement saying it, too, had informed Hilton's representatives that it was "no longer interested in pursing an interview with her."

Contrary to reports of a $1 million deal in the works, NBC said it was "never going to pay them any money."

CBS News, which had not been deeply involved in the initial tug-of-war for a Hilton interview, likewise said it was not interested.

The unexpected turn of events came as the Los Angeles County sheriff's department announced that Hilton would be freed on Tuesday, 23 days after she began serving time for violating her probation in a drunken driving case.

Fierce maneuvering to be first to get Hilton on national TV after her release came to light on Thursday in the New York Post, which reported that NBC had agreed to pay as much as $1 million for a "Today" show Hilton exclusive.

That report ignited a media frenzy over where the 26-year-old "celebutante" would make her homecoming TV appearance, how much it might cost and the propriety of news outlets paying -- directly or indirectly -- for interviews.

WALTERS SAYS NO

Paid interviews, while routine in some countries, are taboo in U.S. journalism because they might be an incentive for news sources to embellish or fabricate information. But "licensing" deals providing compensation for the rights to personal material such as video footage or photos have grown more common.

Both ABC and NBC News have insisted they do not pay for interviews and that neither had a deal in place with Hilton.

But an ABC executive who spoke on condition of anonymity said the Hiltons informed the network earlier this week that they had opted for NBC because of a more lucrative offer to license accompanying family photos and video for up to $1 million, compared with $100,000 offered by ABC.

After the NBC deal fell through, the ABC official said, Hilton and her family sought to restart talks with ABC by reaching out to Walters in a series of phone calls to her home late on Thursday night.

"Barbara listened and, today, the executive producer of (ABC news magazine) '20/20' called (Hilton's father) Rick Hilton and told him that ABC News was not interested in an interview with Paris," the executive told Reuters.

Each network said its decision to pass on Hilton was ultimately an editorial one, not financial. And by Friday, even Hilton's camp was saying money was not an issue.

"Contrary to media reports, Paris Hilton is not being paid for any television interview," said Michael Sitrick, a Hilton family representative. "Nor is Paris being paid for any collateral, including video and photographs related to any television interview."

Independent network news analyst Andrew Tyndall said paying for a Hilton interview would pose at least two problems.

"One, you're not supposed to pay news sources, and two, you've decided that Paris Hilton is an important enough story to violate that rule. And probably the second sin is even worse than the first."


There may hope for network TV yet. They showed a bit of class by turning her down!!

[Janice]

NBC is caving into heat about offering her money, and I'd bet anything that WaWa Walters will get an interview with Hilton.

[dawsongirl]

How's she gonna learn anything if she gets out and people are begging for her story? Just goes back to where she started.

[Howdoulikemenow333]

Associated Press

NEW YORK -

Caught in the whirlwind of bad publicity that often surrounds Paris Hilton, NBC and ABC sought to distance themselves Friday from reports that they were opening their wallets in pursuit of an exclusive interview with the heiress after her release from jail.

ABC News said the Hilton family offered the interview to Barbara Walters, but that Walters and ABC News executive David Sloan turned it down on Friday, said an ABC News executive who said he would discuss the talks only on condition of anonymity.

NBC News, which has said it was interested in speaking to Hilton only if no money were involved, said no interview had been arranged. But the network did not immediately address contradictory media reports about whether it was still pursuing the interview.

The networks and Hilton family appeared anxious to avoid a public backlash over the idea that the wealthy hotel heiress, slated to be released early next week, would profit from her time in jail.

ABC backed off "because the process left us pretty cold," the executive said.

Earlier in the week, ABC News said it believed it had secured the Hilton interview with Walters. The network had agreed to pay the Hilton family up to $100,000 for the use of exclusive video and other material to go with the story. But ABC learned from the Hiltons that it had lost out to an "astronomical" offer from NBC, the executive said.

NBC News denied having an interview lined up with Hilton. "We don't pay for interviews and we'll never pay for interviews," spokeswoman Allison Gollust.

Although it's considered a journalistic sin to pay for interviews, the ban can be sidestepped in many ways for hotly contested ones. One is agreeing to pay for videos and other materials, and another is shifting negotiations to a network's entertainment division, which observes no such prohibitions.

A spokesman for the Hilton family issued a statement Thursday saying they had not requested any payment for an interview or related material. He did not immediately return a call for comment on Friday.

The New York Post, which had first reported ongoing talks over a post-jail interview, headlined a story Friday: "So Crime DOES pay, Paris."

A spokesman for OK! magazine said Hilton's representatives had approached them a few weeks ago to see if they were interested in pictures and an interview when she got out of jail.

"We didn't reciprocate with a bid," said spokesman Brian Strong.

Recently, NBC landed an exclusive interview with Britain's Princes William and Harry, which, conducted by Matt Lauer, aired Monday as an edition of "Dateline NBC." NBC also reportedly paid a fee in the low seven figures for American rights to air a concert next month in honor of their late mother, Diana, to mark the 10th anniversary of her death.

As for CBS News, "we have no interest in the interview," spokeswoman Leigh Farris said.

___

AP Television Writer Frazier Moore contributed to this report.

[catlover79]

Well, Larry King got the interview. I thought he had SOME standards (), but then again, this is Larry King we're talking about here.

[Nighthawk76]

Originally Posted by dawsongirl

How's she gonna learn anything if she gets out and people are begging for her story? Just goes back to where she started.

She probably will not learn anything.

[Max Whittaker]

Originally Posted by catlover79

Well, Larry King got the interview. I thought he had SOME standards (), but then again, this is Larry King we're talking about here.

I've never seen standards in Larry King.

[catlover79]

Originally Posted by Max Whittaker

I've never seen standards in Larry King.

I know, it was just wishful thinking.