In today’s Contra Costa Times’ story about accused kidnapper and rapist Phillip Garrido’s bail being set at $30 million, the prosecutor urges the media to not hound his alleged victim, Jaycee Dugard, for interviews. This plea comes amid reports, the Times says, that Oprah Winfrey had secured an interview, to air in December, and that she was paying $1 million for this scoop.
Oprah’s flak says, no, no, no, her boss has not secured the interview, and then sniffs: “We don’t pay for interviews.”
This response says that Ms. Winfrey is oh-so above hounding a traumatized crime victim like Jaycee Dugard for an interview.
Give me a break.
Sure, it’s probably true that Oprah has not yet secured the interview, but it’s not for lack of effort or desire on her part. In this interview with The Insider last week, the talk show queen (whose show’s ratings are suffering, by the way) states emphatically “I want Jaycee” and that she has expressly put her peeps on the job of nailing that interview. Remember, it was Oprah, also the Queen of Sensitivity, who was responsibility for this particular horror of reality TV. In 2007, she secured an interview with recently recovered teen kidnap victim, Shawn Hornbeck, shortly after his release from 51 months of captivity.
Regarding Jaycee Dugard, recovered after 18 years in captivity and who knows how many instances of physical and sexual abuse, Oprah tells The Insider’s Samantha Harris: "I want that interview."
She continues: "Obviously, like everybody else in this business, I have 'my people' working on that. Now, this is the truth...I really don't care about getting interviews first and all that stuff....Really, truly, I don't play that game. I feel like if somebody wants to talk to me, they will talk to me. If they don't want to talk to me and they want to talk to whomever, fine. But this is the one I want."
2 comments:
Of course, this is the same woman, Oprah, who apparently back when Jaycee went missing, would not give her mother ANY AIR TIME at all, despite repeated requests.
Yeah, Oprah will get the interview.....
Not to defend Oprah but in all fairness aren't there more factors to consider?
Certainly the media plays its role in wall to wall coverage and sensationalistic interviews.
But it also takes the people to be interviewed. Many of them are out to either make a quick buck or find their 15 minutes in the limelight. Even if the Dugard family isn't seeking the limelight and assuming the rumors are correct it seems to me that they might feel that one million is fair for the pain to be dragged into the limelight of an Oprah show? Even if they are hounded by Oprah’s producers, I’m sure they could get a court order restraining Oprah and her producers from trying to make contact with them.
But the problem doesn't end just there. In my view the public has a responsibility as well. Oprah would never offer one million for an interview if nobody was watching such a show. As long as the public is willing to be lured in by these shows this will continue. That's why I criticized Soccer Mom a little while ago for posting a link to the sensationalistic photographs published in all kind of news media on this case a while back.
This photographer would never have intruded Jacyee's backyard shack if he couldn't sell these pictures and the media wouldn't buy the pictures if they couldn't attract the public with it.
So while I certainly don't like the sensationalist media I do think the public makes it too easy by simply pointing finger at them.
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