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Lauer says NBC didn't pay for interview |
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Written by Cristina Kinon, MCT
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Tuesday, 26 June 2007 |
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NBC News didn't land its exclusive interview with Princes William and Harry as a result of a hidden pay-for-chat deal, insists anchor Matt Lauer.
The network has been accused of — and outright denies — paying $2.5 million in rights fees not only to air the Princess Diana Tribute Concert but for a sit-down with Diana's sons.
Not so, said Lauer, who did the interview.
"When the concert deal was signed, (the princes) hadn't decided they were even going to do an interview," Lauer told reporters Monday. "There was no quid pro quo here. There was no, 'We'll do the concert and we get the boys.' I think it was only after they were well down the road, and this is actually something I talked to (William and Harry) off-camera about, well down the road with planning the concert that they decided they might also want to talk."
Lauer said he was not in the business dealings for the concert, and the idea of talking to them emerged afterward.
"Do I think the fact that we were airing the concert gave us an enormous advantage? Absolutely," he said. "That's a no-brainer ... (but) I can tell you right now, if there had been some quid pro quo, I wouldn't have had to go through the hoops I had to go through."
The princes' controversy was repeated throughout the recent Paris Hilton interview scandal.
"If I had zero dealings on the financial side of the princes situation, I had negative, minus zero on the Paris Hilton thing," Lauer said. "I was completely removed from that situation."
Last week, reports surfaced that NBC was considering a $1 million deal for access to Hilton, which would include a license fee for the rights to her personal photographs and videos. At the time, an NBC spokesperson said, "NBC News does not pay for interviews — never have, never will." The network and ABC said they had no interest in Hilton. Hilton will now spill her guts Wednesday night on CNN's "Larry King Live."
To further distance NBC from any suggestion of impropriety, Lauer noted that no interview questions were off limits.
"If (NBC had paid for the interview), then the palace makes a deal and says 'OK, here's what we'll do and here's what we won't do,'" he said. "There were no restrictions on this interview, nor can there ever be on an interview that we do. That is what separates the news division from, for example, an entertainment division."
In fact, Lauer had to sort of audition for the job of interviewing the royals.
"It was kind of strange, having hosted this show ("Today") for 10 years and having a fairly high profile here in the States. I don't have that profile (in England), so I'll be honest with you, we sent tapes," said Lauer. "I'm sure there was probably an interview on there with President Bush, there was probably an interview there with President Putin ... (and) I don't believe we sent them ... the Britney Spears interview." | Only registered users can write comments.
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