ABC NEWS WON’T PAY FOR INTERVIEWS FROM NOW ON

ABC has decided to get out of the business of checkbook journalism. In his column for TheDailyBeast.com, media writer Howard Kurtz reported that, without fanfare, ABC President Ben Sherwood “has effectively taken ABC out of what had become a competitive bidding war for hot bookings.” In the recent past, the network has purchased photos and videos at astronomical prices from figures it wished to book on its news and magazine shows, a process that Kurtz called “a fig leaf for purchasing interviews.” Commented ABC News spokesman Jeffrey Schneider, “Will we lose a booking here and there? Sure. … Are those lost bookings equal to the credibility of ABC News? Not in any way, shape, or form.”