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American Morning

Interview With Pat Lalama

Aired December 31, 2003 - 07:34   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: In California today, the sheriff of Santa Barbara County plans to hold a news conference to respond to charges made by Michael Jackson. Jackson said, during a CBS interview, that he was mistreated when he surrounded to authorities. Sheriffs' deputies have denied that.
Pat Lalama, a reporter for the TV show "Celebrity Justice," is following the case.

She joins us from Los Angeles.

Nice to see you, Pat.

Good morning.

PAT LALAMA, "CELEBRITY JUSTICE": Good morning to you, Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Let's get right to it.

The sheriff, Jim Anderson, says that he takes these allegations very seriously. And in addition to that, he said for all the talk of these allegations of police brutality, there's been no actual formal complaint filed to the department.

So I guess the question would be why are they holding the news conference today? Is it to sort of leverage any momentum they're getting off of this country?

LALAMA: You know, it's interesting, a lot of people think that public servants should just be public servants and stay out of the media spotlight, let the defense do whatever it has to do, but just remain dignified and above it all. But I think in this case, Santa Barbara authorities want to make sure that they can fight fire with fire. If there are going to be unfounded allegations that Michael Jackson's shoulders were dislocated, to set -- to plant that seed that there's a, you know, an issue here of police brutality, I think they have every right to call a news conference and say look, this is what happened and we have the proof and we're going to put this to rest right now.

O'BRIEN: It might be too early to call them unfounded, but might be able to say at this point unproven at this point.

LALAMA: Well...

O'BRIEN: Let's talk a little bit, though...

LALAMA: Exactly.

O'BRIEN: ... about what CNN is confirming, that sources close to the investigation say that, indeed, members of the Nation of Islam have sort of moved in to Michael Jackson's camp and are taking over many aspects of the singer's life, including some of his business affairs, things like that.

The group, of course, has denied it.

Give me a sense of what you think the risks, from a P.R. perspective, are to Michael Jackson. Or maybe a better question is the up sides to him, if you think there are any.

LALAMA: I don't know that I think there's an up side. I think what's behind it -- this is purely a guess -- is the financial support that they could offer him. It's, you know, my understanding from previous stories I've done regarding Michael Jackson and many, many lawsuits is that he doesn't have a lot of cash to be throwing around for a big defense teams. I think that they come in for that.

I think they also set an image that we are behind Michael Jackson, that he does have support in the, particularly the African- American community, which I think they will find important for Michael Jackson as this case goes on.

I hate to see a race card played. I hope that that doesn't really happen and I hope that what this is is just simply a show of support, be it financial or image.

O'BRIEN: Some people say the race card has already been played.

LALAMA: Yes.

O'BRIEN: We will see how that goes.

Let's talk a little bit about this report out of the "New York Times," Pat, saying essentially that Michael Jackson struck a deal with CBS that earned him an additional $1 million. And this was in a deal that would involve the interview on "60 Minutes" and also that "Entertainment" special. It's a little bit convoluted about the math. CBS said that they, "60 Minutes" did not pay for an interview.

Give me a sense of what's behind this latest report.

LALAMA: I think what's behind it is that you're talking about corporations' bottom lines, you know, ratings, all of that plays into it. And isn't it a shame when we're talking about allegations of child molestation, yet it's really all about a money making thing? Michael Jackson didn't go elsewhere to do this interview. He went where it was home, where he was making deals. And I think that sort of taints everything.

I think, you know, Ed Bradley is a marvelous, marvelous journalist, but I think he, in some ways, is penned in by what he could ask Michael Jackson because of the financial underpinnings of all of this. O'BRIEN: Pat Lalama joining us this morning.

Pat, thanks for joining us.

Have a good new year.

LALAMA: You, too.

O'BRIEN: We'll see you in '04.

LALAMA: You got it.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired December 31, 2003 - 07:34   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: In California today, the sheriff of Santa Barbara County plans to hold a news conference to respond to charges made by Michael Jackson. Jackson said, during a CBS interview, that he was mistreated when he surrounded to authorities. Sheriffs' deputies have denied that.
Pat Lalama, a reporter for the TV show "Celebrity Justice," is following the case.

She joins us from Los Angeles.

Nice to see you, Pat.

Good morning.

PAT LALAMA, "CELEBRITY JUSTICE": Good morning to you, Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Let's get right to it.

The sheriff, Jim Anderson, says that he takes these allegations very seriously. And in addition to that, he said for all the talk of these allegations of police brutality, there's been no actual formal complaint filed to the department.

So I guess the question would be why are they holding the news conference today? Is it to sort of leverage any momentum they're getting off of this country?

LALAMA: You know, it's interesting, a lot of people think that public servants should just be public servants and stay out of the media spotlight, let the defense do whatever it has to do, but just remain dignified and above it all. But I think in this case, Santa Barbara authorities want to make sure that they can fight fire with fire. If there are going to be unfounded allegations that Michael Jackson's shoulders were dislocated, to set -- to plant that seed that there's a, you know, an issue here of police brutality, I think they have every right to call a news conference and say look, this is what happened and we have the proof and we're going to put this to rest right now.

O'BRIEN: It might be too early to call them unfounded, but might be able to say at this point unproven at this point.

LALAMA: Well...

O'BRIEN: Let's talk a little bit, though...

LALAMA: Exactly.

O'BRIEN: ... about what CNN is confirming, that sources close to the investigation say that, indeed, members of the Nation of Islam have sort of moved in to Michael Jackson's camp and are taking over many aspects of the singer's life, including some of his business affairs, things like that.

The group, of course, has denied it.

Give me a sense of what you think the risks, from a P.R. perspective, are to Michael Jackson. Or maybe a better question is the up sides to him, if you think there are any.

LALAMA: I don't know that I think there's an up side. I think what's behind it -- this is purely a guess -- is the financial support that they could offer him. It's, you know, my understanding from previous stories I've done regarding Michael Jackson and many, many lawsuits is that he doesn't have a lot of cash to be throwing around for a big defense teams. I think that they come in for that.

I think they also set an image that we are behind Michael Jackson, that he does have support in the, particularly the African- American community, which I think they will find important for Michael Jackson as this case goes on.

I hate to see a race card played. I hope that that doesn't really happen and I hope that what this is is just simply a show of support, be it financial or image.

O'BRIEN: Some people say the race card has already been played.

LALAMA: Yes.

O'BRIEN: We will see how that goes.

Let's talk a little bit about this report out of the "New York Times," Pat, saying essentially that Michael Jackson struck a deal with CBS that earned him an additional $1 million. And this was in a deal that would involve the interview on "60 Minutes" and also that "Entertainment" special. It's a little bit convoluted about the math. CBS said that they, "60 Minutes" did not pay for an interview.

Give me a sense of what's behind this latest report.

LALAMA: I think what's behind it is that you're talking about corporations' bottom lines, you know, ratings, all of that plays into it. And isn't it a shame when we're talking about allegations of child molestation, yet it's really all about a money making thing? Michael Jackson didn't go elsewhere to do this interview. He went where it was home, where he was making deals. And I think that sort of taints everything.

I think, you know, Ed Bradley is a marvelous, marvelous journalist, but I think he, in some ways, is penned in by what he could ask Michael Jackson because of the financial underpinnings of all of this. O'BRIEN: Pat Lalama joining us this morning.

Pat, thanks for joining us.

Have a good new year.

LALAMA: You, too.

O'BRIEN: We'll see you in '04.

LALAMA: You got it.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com