Paris Hilton Is Not Going To Take A Cent For Interview

Strong Possibility: Page Six Has Lied To The Public Once Again

Paris Hilton, responding to reports that NBC has offered her a large sum in seeking her first post-jail appearance, said last night that she is not accepting a dime for any television interview.

NBC executives disputed reports that “Today” has landed an interview next week with the incarcerated heiress, to be done after her release from a Los Angeles jail. But the executives could not rule out the possibility that NBC’s entertainment division was trying to strike a deal with Hilton — an increasingly common way for networks to smooth the way for a high-profile sit-down with a top anchor.

“Paris Hilton is not being paid for any television interview,” her spokesman Mike Sitrick said in a statement. “Nor is Paris being paid for any collateral, including video and photographs, related to any interview.”

After a New York Post report that NBC had offered Hilton as much as $1 million, the network said in a statement: “NBC News has not and will not pay for interviews.”

The broadcast networks have rules against paying for interviews but often find creative ways around them, sometimes by paying for photographs and home movies. Indeed, the Los Angeles Times, citing an unnamed source, said on its Web site yesterday that a mega-payment might go toward personal video and images of the celebrity party girl.

While NBC says no interview is confirmed, the New York Post account yesterday said that Meredith Vieira will quiz Hilton on “Today.”

The network has already done business with the family. Hilton’s mother, Kathy, starred in an NBC reality show two years ago. Network executives acknowledge that big stars are usually more comfortable granting news interviews to a media company that is already compensating them on the entertainment side, an unspoken arrangement that critics describe as a circuitous form of checkbook journalism.

washingtonpost.com

From: Anonymous
Time: June 22, 2007, 7:27 am

Strong possibility? I would say it’s their nature to lie. That’s how they justify keeping their jobs.