While 60 Minutes soars, 20/20 sinks low
What a perfect case study we have this week of the different directions taken by the last two big network TV newsmagazines. One interviews presidents, the other prostitutes. And for once, the high road is the more lucrative one.
As I wrote several times the past two weeks, the CBS newsmagazine 60 Minutes has been scoring record ratings with a steady diet of substance like correspondent Steve Kroft's wide-ranging interview Sunday with President-elect Barack Obama. The hour with the interview was the highest rated prime-time program of the year.
ABC's 20/20, meanwhile, is hyping its "exclusive" interview tonight by Diane Sawyer with Ashley Dupre. She's the woman ABC News describes as the "high-end call girl at the center of the scandal that brought down former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer.
No low-end calls girls for this high-class news operation, I guess.
Oh wait, remember the D.C. Madam, Deborah Jeane Palfrey, and the "exclusive" interview ABC News chief investigative correspondent Brian Ross had with her on 20/20? There is, indeed, a glorious history here, is there not?
And what else has 20/20 been featuring in recent weeks? How about Thomas Beatie, the "pregnant man" and Christie Brinkley's ex-husband, Peter Cook. Mix that in a bowl with Ms. Dupre, stir well with talk of "exclusives" and breathless introductions, and you pretty much have the very definition of tabloid TV.
And what has 60 Minutes been up to? Oh, not much. They just about own one of the biggest political stories of the past 50 years, the rise and election of the first African-American president.
Oh yeah, and they have been up to their elbows in the financial crisis that threatens to bring back the glory days of the The Great Depression to a household near you -- if not your own workplace and home. The 60 Minutes team has been one of the only TV news organizations to try and sort out the financial insanity and hubris of the sub-prime mortgage loans and paper swaps that brought Wall Street to the verge of collapse -- saved for the moment only by the Congress and a rush-rush bailout plan.
Did I mention the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that no one else seems to want to cover any more? The CBS News magazine had two stories on of them as well.
If you think I sound biased, I am on this one. It is important to the future of this country that news organizations stay on the case with the kind of stories 60 Minutes is doing -- and not go chasing call girls like ABC News and 20/20.
(Above: ABC photo of Ashley Dupre and Diane Sawyer by Heidi Gutman)
Comments
Amen brother. ABC may not have paid Ms Dupre for the interview, but they did pay her a "consulting" fee (how else would they know the intricacies of how prostitutes operate?) and paid for photos and footage.
If Dupre was truly humbled by this and was "in therapy", then she would not be doing this interview. Her attorney is Don Buchwald. Buchwald is not a criminal defense attorney, but rather an entertainment attorney. He represents Howard Stern of all people!
Posted by: Johan | November 21, 2008 11:47 AM
Tabloid TV is the trashing of Palin and butt kissing of Obama. So what if her attorney is Don Buchwald?
"Z" is one strange columnist .
Time to get over Palin.Z
Posted by: geevill | November 21, 2008 12:21 PM
ABC IS THESAME NETWORK LED BY CHARLES GIBSON WHO TRIED TO EMBARRASS BARACK OBAMA DURING A DEBATE WITH CLINTON DURING THE PRIMARY. GEEVILL REPRESENTS SOME OF THE REDNECK RACISTS WHO ARE STILL OUT THERE. IT'S TIME TO UNITE AND MOVE FORWARD.
Posted by: daniel lynch | November 21, 2008 12:55 PM
We can now thank Barbara Walters, Peter Crooked, Diane Sawyer, Ashley Dupre, Elliot Spitzer etc... for making major contributions to the dumbing down and sleazing up of America. You all give disgusting a bad name...
Amen, Finally some of the outrage I expected about a network newsmagazine chasing prostitutes. Thanks. Z
Posted by: givemeabreak | November 21, 2008 2:56 PM
What do you Expect? It is November Book, once again all about ratings...
Yes, there is that, and that is the way the business has worked since they started measauring audiences. Good point. Thanks. Z
Posted by: Lou | November 21, 2008 5:06 PM
Give us a break Z. If this was Gov. Bob you liberals would be handing out awards to old Diane.
Hi John, I am not sure what you are trying to say.Can you clarfiy? Are you saying if this cane had involved former Gov. Robert Ehrlich instead of Eliot Spitzer, so-called liberal commentators would praise Diane Sawyer for getting an interview months after the fact with one of the prostitutes involved? If so, I wouldn't. Honestly. Tell me why you think talking to the prostitute now matters. Thanks. PS. I am going to be writing Gov. Martin's TV show Monday night. You might want to tiune back in. I might even get a chance to talk about Gov. Bob's use of TV back when he was the governor. Z
Posted by: John Thomas | November 21, 2008 10:08 PM