Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Mike Darnell has done it again. The evil genius and we mean that in the best possible sense behind Fox8217;s reality programming has secured US broadcast rights to a private video that Michael Jackson says shows British journalist Martin Bashir praising his parenting skills to the hilt.
Fox will broadcast Michael Jackson Take 2: The Interview They Wouldn8217;t Show You on February 20 from 8 to 10 pm 8212; the same time period in which ABC News broadcast Bashir8217;s damning documentary Living With Michael Jackson two weeks earlier and snagged 27 million viewers.
In the documentary, Bashir said he became concerned about Jackson8217;s behaviour toward his children while in Berlin, where Jackson made front-page news when he dangled his youngest child from the fourth-floor balcony of his hotel room. But Backerman says footage Jackson had shot from their final interview, conducted some time after the Berlin trip, shows Bashir continuing to praise Jackson8217;s parenting skills. 8216;8216;I predict this will change ABC8217;s policy on how they receive this stuff in the future,8217;8217; Backerman told The TV Column. 8216;8216;It8217;s going to blow viewers8217; minds as to what Bashir said relative to what came out in the 8216;20/208217; special.8217;8217;
MJ Take 2 also includes an extensive interview with Debbie Rowe, who is mom to Jackson8217;s two older children. That interview, conducted after the Bashir documentary aired, was by an 8216;8216;outside journalist we brought in to ensure objectivity,8217;8217; Backerman said.
Jackson8217;s reps were swamped with phone calls from various TV networks and programmes trying to snag the rights to his video. Darnell 8216;8216;presented the best package that would support Michael8217;s position,8217;8217; Backerman said.
8216;8216;Fox was 8216;8216;extremely sympathetic as to how he was initially portrayed and in essence gave us what we felt was the best exposure possibility. 8216;8216;He8217;s been treated extremely shabbily by the press in general but particularly by Bashir, and we wanted to get a company that would be able to 8230; show the full details of the situation, so the general public all over the world would get a very clear, no-discrepancy picture.
8216;8216;He thought it was going to be a beautiful thing,8217;8217; Backerman said of the Bashir documentary. 8216;8216;When you see this on the 20th, you see Bashir led him to believe they were friends, close. 8230; Believe me, when you look at this tape, it8217;s clear Jackson must have thought, for the first time somebody has been there for me. Which is why he was so blown out subsequently.8217;8217; LATWP
