With the excitement over “Good Morning America’s” ratings and Nik Wallenda’s wire-walk over Niagara Falls, recognition of some of ABC’s recent big gets seems to have fallen by the wayside.
Three of those gets, were all gotten by “20/20” anchor Chris Cuomo and his team: Cuomo’s interview with Rielle Hunter airs Friday night; the pre-sentence interview with Rutger’s student Dharun Ravi in March; and the October sitdown with Stephanie Madoff Mack, former daughter-in-law of Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff.
“We worked hard at securing three of the biggest bookings so far this year,” Cuomo tells TVNewser, “despite all the money being offered by others, which is of course forbidden at ABC News.”
Last July, ABC News stopped paying licensing fees in order to score big interviews. The revelation that the network paid $200,000 to the family of Casey Anthony, was the beginning of the end of the practice at ABC.
“It’s rewarding to know that ABC’s reputation for tough but fair interviews and our unrivaled distribution on multiple platforms are still the most powerful incentives to sit down with us,” says Cuomo.