The Cost Of Making Interviews Happen

TV Newser today pointed to a report (PDF) from Political Money Line stating that "Rep. Tom DeLay filed a report with the Clerk of the House of Representatives indicating he received free travel valued at $13,998.55 from Fox News Sunday for "officially connected travel" on October 1-2, 2005, from Sugarland, TX to Washington, D.C. and back to Sugarland, TX. Rep. DeLay appeared on Fox News Sunday on October 2, 2005, the weekend after his indictment on September 28, 2005."

Later, a "Fox insider" wrote into TV Newser that "[t]ravel arrangements like these are hardly unique to Fox News Sunday...however, given that this was a high profile exclusive and that Mr. DeLay was the only guest on the show that morning, conducting the interview via satellite would have undermined the production quality of the show. More importantly, it would have cost double the amount to fly the show's entire crew to Sugarland, TX, than it did to bring Mr. DeLay to D.C."

I asked CBS News Senior Vice President for Standards and Special Projects Linda Mason about CBS News' policy on paying for travel arrangements. She said, "the question is, do we ever fly interviewees into New York, and the answer is yes. We often pay the hotel for the night." Like the Fox tipster, she referenced the fact that flying someone into town can be cheaper than going to them, because it avoids the necessity of sending a crew, producer, and correspondent to wherever the interview subject might be.

Does she worry, I asked, if paying for someone's travel might give them an incentive to say what they believe a network would want them to say? "If we add further inducements, like theatre tickets, I think you can say that," said Mason. Does CBS ever add such inducements? "Rarely."