OLD Media Moves

Covering business execs in tabloid fashion

March 13, 2009

Brian Stelter of the New York Times writes Friday how the tabloid press and more traditional media are now looking to cover the behind-the-scenes lives of corporate executives, their parties and their use of private jets.

Stelter writes, “Tabloids aren’t the only ones wagging their fingers. In recent months, network news divisions have relied more heavily on watchdog segments that, producers believe, resonate with viewers who are angry about their own economic status.

“Sharyl Attkisson, an investigative correspondent who contributes weekly ‘Follow the Money’ segments for the ‘CBS Evening News,’ said visual proof of what could be excessive spending ‘taps into a lot of outrage’ that Americans feel about the economy.

“Tracking the private jets, lavish junkets and other trappings of what the ABC correspondent Brian Ross calls ‘corporate royalty’ are now full-time jobs for reporters at the network news divisions. Next week NBC News will show a three-part investigative series in prime time titled ‘Inside the Financial Fiasco’ and reported by Chris Hansen, the ‘Dateline NBC‘ correspondent who hosted the network’s ‘To Catch a Predator’ franchise for years.”

Read more here.

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