Networks Don't Want to Interview Paris Hilton. Larry King Takes Leftovers

Stuff.co.nz reports that since it has been announced that Hilton will be released from prison on the Thursday, there has been a media frenzy surrounding who will do Hilton's after-prison interview. An executive from ABC said that his network turned down interview offers from Hilton and her mother. Hilton and her mother personally made telephone calls to ABC's Barbara Walters in order to secure an interview.

Stuff.co.nz also reports that NBC also issued a statement saying that it told Hilton's representatives that it was not interested in interviewing Hilton. There were reports that Hilton had a $1 million dollar deal going, but both NBC and ABC said that they were never going to pay Hilton one cent.

CBS was not involved in the interview war at first, but it too declined an interview with Hilton. Stuff.co.nz reports that paid interviews are unethical in journalism because they encourage news sources to embellish or even fabricate information. However, journalistic sources can make what are called "licensing" deals where they might give compensation for the rights to personal material. Such material includes video footage or photos.

Stuff.co.nz reports that talk of the $1 million dollar deal came about because there was supposedly an NBC deal to license family photos and video for up to $1 million. However, this deal fell through, and then the Hilton mother and daughter pair began to restart talks with ABC only to be denied.

Stuff.co.nz quoted Michael Sitrick, a Hilton family representative. He said, " Contrary to media reports, Paris Hilton is not being paid for any television interview. Nor is Paris being paid for any collateral including video and photographs related to any television interview." Stuff.co.nz also quoted independent network news analyst Andrew Tydall. He said that paying for an interview with Hilton would bring about two problems. "One, you're not supposed to pay for news sources, and two you've decided that Paris Hilton is an important enough story to violate that rule. And probably the second is even worse than the first."

In an attempt at recovery, Hilton has turned to CNN's Larry King to talk about the details of being in jail for 23 days in a Los Angeles County jail. The interview is scheduled for 6pm on June 27^th, reports www.latimes.com. Latimes.com quoted Hilton who said " I am thrilled that Larry King has asked me to appear on his program to discuss my experience in jail, what I have learned, how I have grown, and anything else he wants to talk about."

Networks Snub Paris Interview Deal, stuff.nz.com url (http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/thepress/4106402a19749.html)