Word: tabloidism
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Maybe it's the November ratings "sweeps"; maybe a lunar convergence of high-profile sex-and-crime stories. Whatever the reason, the tabloid shows have been in high gear lately. Charges of child molestation against Michael Jackson, along with his self-proclaimed addiction problem, have sent reporters scurrying across Europe in search of the missing superstar. When River Phoenix died, Hard Copy was the first to tell the world (through an unnamed hospital employee) that the death was probably the result of a drug overdose. John Bobbitt, owner of perhaps the most famous sex organ in America, told his story...
...tabloid shows are the disreputable stepchildren of TV journalism. The Big Three -- A Current Affair, Hard Copy and Inside Edition -- are scorned by mainstream journalists, dismissed by most critics, laughed at by many viewers. Yet when sensational crimes and celebrity scandals grab the nation's attention, these are the shows that do the spadework, uncover the dirt, get the scoops. Their style may be cheesy and their tactics dicey (including liberal use of the checkbook), but they are doing a lot of old-fashioned, roll-up-your-sleeves journalism. What's more, at a time when the network- magazine shows...
...free-spending ways of the tabloid shows have had a widespread impact. Network reporters trying to land an interview are now accustomed to fielding one question up front: "How much will you pay?" The networks claim they do not pay for interviews, though tabloid sources insist that such payments are often disguised as "consultant fees" to freelance producers or as purchases of video footage. The tabloids too are suffering the consequences of their checkbook journalism. In the wake of the Michael Jackson child-abuse charges, people started coming out of the woodwork offering dubious tales of other alleged abuse involving...
...Tabloid producers contend that these payments are not as widespread as frequently assumed and that many scoops still come the old-fashioned way -- by hard work. Despite a claim that Hard Copy paid $1,000 for its newsmaking peek last August at a social worker's report on the molestation charge against Jackson, reporter Diane Dimond describes spending three hours in a Santa Monica bar copying every word of the 25-page file in longhand. (She could not legally take away the original, which documented the plaintiff's story.) "I didn't pay one dime on the Jackson story," says...
Even when they do pay for stories, tabloid producers insist, the practice is used carefully and does not compromise credibility. Inside Edition anchor Bill O'Reilly argues that paying for interviews is a legitimate way of competing with the networks, whose offer of prime-time national exposure carries more clout. "To level the playing field, we have to offer incentives to some people to come on our air." Some journalistic watchdogs agree that the traditional stigma against pay-for-play reporting may be breaking down -- and for good reason. "It's hard to argue that the ordinary person shouldn...