British interviewer looks to US

February 27, 2004|Associated Press

NEW YORK -- British celebrity interviewer Martin Bashir, whose talk with Michael Jackson was seen by 27 million people on ABC a year ago, is negotiating to come to American television. An ABC spokesman, Jeffrey Schneider, would not comment yesterday on a report in a British newspaper that Bashir had agreed to move to ABC when his contract with Granada Television expires in July. But Schneider called Bashir a talented journalist who "would be a great addition to any news organization."

Bashir's "Tonight" is one of British TV's top-rated programs. He has been talking with several broadcasters about a shift to the United States, said an American news executive who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Bashir's interview so angered Jackson that the pop star sold outtakes of their discussion to Fox.

Two other high-profile Bashir programs, an interview with Princess Diana and an investigation of a scandal on the British version of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire," were also shown on ABC.

With Barbara Walters and Diane Sawyer, ABC has had a reputation for being the most aggressive American news networks in seeking interviews with celebrities. But Walters announced last month that she will step down in September from "20/20," the weekly newsmagazine that she has anchored for 25 years.

Church scandal film for Showtime

Showtime, which found itself home to "The Reagans" last year after CBS passed on the telefilm, is taking on another explosive subject: the pedophilia scandal in the Roman Catholic Church.

The premium cable channel has given the go-ahead to an original film called "Our Fathers," based on David France's book of the same title. Casting is underway and preproduction is scheduled to begin in April.

France's book, subtitled "The Secret Life of the Catholic Church in an Age of Scandal," relies on accounts of victims and others involved to give a portrait of how the scandal was allowed to grow within the church over the course of a half-century. France, a senior editor at Newsweek, will serve as a consultant on the movie.

Showtime's dramatization of the book will open in 2002, when Boston Globe reporters broke the story of how the church had dealt with allegations of sexual abuse by priests. Since then, the scandal has spread to dioceses across the country.

Robert Greenblatt, president of Showtime Entertainment, says all the stories in the movie will be fact-based, but the names of victims have been changed.

"We have no intention of making this movie exploitative," Greenblatt says. "But when I read France's book, I was compelled to make this movie because the majority of the public has no idea how widespread or complex this issue is."

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