According to the New York Post, NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker personally called Paris Hilton‘s father to pitch a $1 million interview with NBC.
But in this FT.com video interview with managing editor Chrystia Freeland, Zucker claims he “wasn’t involved” in the talks.
He also promotes disclosure about interviews: “Now, that’s not to say that I think we should be paying for, uh, interviews per se. I think that if somebody has something to say, hopefully there’s a way to do it without any checkbook journalism. I think historically there have been many instances where there have been fees paid for services, videos, photographs, and people have gotten around this, including the most famous interviewers on American television.”
Click continued for the transcript…
| FREELAND: What really happened with Paris Hilton? ZUCKER: Uhhh. [Pause.] Well look, I think our news division was interested in doing an interview with her. There were some demands placed on what it would take to secure that interview– FREELAND: Financial demands? ZUCKER: There were some, at certain points. And I think at the end of the day, our folks did not feel comfortable with what was being asked, and so the decision was made to move on. FREELAND: Does that include you? Were you uncomfortable? ZUCKER: You know, I wasn’t involved in this. The news division kept me apprised of what they were doing, but ultimately it was their decision. I support their decision. FREELAND: Is that part of checkbook journalism creeping in, and is that a bad thing? ZUCKER: Well look, I think the key thing is, anytime you do an interview with anybody is that you disclose what you’re doing. FREELAND: So if you say ‘we paid a million dollars for this interview,’ that’s okay? ZUCKER: Well I don’t know that it’s okay, but certainly, it certainly, uh, disclosure I think goes a long way toward, umm, it goes a long way toward making people understand, uh, what has transpired. Now, that’s not to say that I think we should be paying for, uh, interviews per se. I think that if somebody has something to say, hopefully there’s a way to do it without any checkbook journalism. I think historically there have been many instances where there have been fees paid for services, videos, photographs, and people have gotten around this, including the most famous interviewers on American television. FREELAND: So it’s not an entirely new phenomenon? ZUCKER: I don’t think it’s an entirely new phenomenon, but obviously I believe disclosure is the most important thing. |