| Diane Dimond (Television Journalist) | |
|---|---|
| Born | Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States |
| Occupation | Broadcast journalist |
| Spouse(s) | Michael Schoen |
| Official website | |
Diane Dimond is a television journalist, reporter and host. She is best known for her work as a correspondent on Hard Copy, Extra, and Entertainment Tonight.
Dimond began her career at KOB Radio in Albuquerque, New Mexico. In 1976, she moved to Washington D.C where she anchored newscasts for NPR's All Things Considered. From 1980 to 1986, Dimond was a congressional and political correspondent for the RKO Radio Networks. In 1986, she moved to New York where she served as a TV reporter for WCBS-TV.[1]
In 1990, Dimond became a correspondent for both Hard Copy and Extra before moving to CNBC in 1998 to co-host the news-related program Upfront Tonight with Geraldo Rivera. Following its cancellation in 2000, Dimond signed on with MSNBC as a reporter and host. After a brief stint with the Fox News Channel, she joined Court TV as a sometime anchor and regular reporter in 2003, gaining notoriety for her work as a correspondent during the Michael Jackson child molestation trial. During the trial, Dimond made frequent appearances on NBC's Today Show, Larry King Live, Inside Edition, the Don Imus radio program and many other outlets giving updates on the proceedings.
Dimond, during her stint at Hard Copy, broke the news about accusations of an inappropriate relationship between Jackson and a young boy. Jackson's Court documents from the time clearly stated that Jackson's insurance carrier "negotiated and paid $15 million (not the $20 million usually alluded to by the press), the settlement over the protests of Mr Jackson and his personal legal counsel." Jackson didn't even agree with the settlement, let alone pay it.
That same year, Dimond did a segment with two of Jackson's former bodyguards. They claimed they were fired because they knew too much about Jackson's alleged relationships with young boys. Dimond swore that the bodyguards were not paid for their story. A contract later revealed that they were given $100,000 to appear on her show. When taken to court, both bodyguards admitted that they had made the whole thing up.
Jackson's former maid Blanca Francia appeared on Hard Copy claiming she'd seen Jackson naked with young boys. A copy of Francia's testimony reveals that Hard Copy paid her $20,000 to make this story up. Again, under oath, the disgruntled ex-employee admitted she had lied. On April 27, 1995, it was discovered that the boy from footage of Hard Copy, where Dimond talks to a boy who claims he was touched by Michael, had made the whole thing up. The 15 year old boy from Toronto mentioned John Templeton, also known as Rodney Allen, in his explanation of why and how he was coached into an unwavering insistence that Michael Jackson molested him, which was a lie that Templeton had told the boy to say.
Victor M. Gutierrez is a freelance writer who appeared on Hard Copy to claim that there was a videotape of Michael Jackson molesting a boy. Some background on his story can be found in the book Jackson Family Values, by Jermaine Jackson's ex-common-law wife Margaret Maldonado. She writes that in early 1995:
"I received a telephone call from a writer named Ruth Robinson. I had known Ruth for quite a while and respected her integrity. It made what she had to tell me all the more difficult to hear. "I wanted to warn you, Margaret," she said. "There's a story going around that there is a videotape of Michael molesting one of your sons, and that you have the tape." If anyone else had said those words, I would have hung up the phone. Given the long relationship I had with Ruth, however, I gave her the courtesy of a response. I told her that it wasn't true, of course, and that I wanted the story stopped in its tracks.She had been in contact with someone who worked at the National Enquirer who had alerted her that a story was being written for that paper. Ruth cross-connected me with the woman, and I vehemently denied the story. Moreover, I told her that if the story ran, I would own the National Enquirer before the lawsuits I brought were finished. To its credit, the National Enquirer never ran the piece. "Hard Copy," however, decided it would. "Hard Copy" correspondent Diane Dimond had reported that authorities were reopening the child molestation case against Michael. She had also made the allegations on L.A. radio station KABC-AM on a morning talk show hosted by Roger Barkley and Ken Minyard. Dimond's claims were based on the word of a freelance writer named Victor Gutierrez. The story was an outrageous lie. Not one part of it was true. I'd never met the man. There was no tape. Michael never paid me for my silence. He had never molested Jeremy. Period."
After the Hard Copy story aired, the LAPD told the Los Angeles Times that they had seen no such videotape, it was made up, and there was no renewed investigation into molestation allegations.
Michael Jackson filed a $100 million slander lawsuit against Gutierrez, Hard Copy, and KABC-AM for perpetuating the story. None of these parties ever produced the videotape or any evidence it existed. Because Jackson’s lawyers could find no sign of the videotape or the origin of the tale, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Reginald Dunn ruled that Gutierrez was no longer protected by the California Shield Law, and ordered him to name his source. Gutierrez did not, instead claiming that a host of people, including Elizabeth Taylor and Los Angeles County District Attorney Gil Garcetti, could verify the existence of the videotape (none of these people in fact supported him). Consequently, on October 15, 1996, Judge Dunn ruled that Gutierrez's story was false and that he had acted with malice and was therefore liable for presumed and punitive damages (the amount of which would be determined at a later date.) The writer then fled to Mexico and Chile, Jackson filed a lawsuit against him and Hard Copy. Although Dimond was dismissed from the lawsuit because of "journalistic integrity", Gutierrez was forced to pay Jackson $2.7 million in damages. When he was charged with child molestation in late 2003, she covered the story.
"Dimond was also one of the first to report the erroneous story that the prosecution had seized love letters allegedly written by Jackson to the latest accuser. On the November 24, 2003 edition of Larry King Live, Dimond, along with famed attorney Johnnie Cochran, Chris Pixley and Court TV's Nancy Grace, did not hesitate much when discussing them: As Pixley hinted, the story was as phony as a three dollar bill, adding fuel to the notion that Dimond has little intention of reporting the truth but rather reporting what she knows to be false and potentially damaging to Jackson and his defense team. We will not even bother to speculate as to who her "source" was (the person's identity should be quite obvious). It suffices to say that this person appears to have had little intention of disseminating truth and used whatever willing vessel he (or she) could find. Dimond fit the bill. Yet we are supposed to trust this king of reporting to provide "unbiased" information concerning the case". Dimond's coverage of Jackson since that time, to this day, Diane Dimond's Suspicious Involvement has drawn considerable controversy to so many:
"In a new article from David Bauder of the Associated Press, it is revealed that Jackson "news" reporter and tabloid writer Diane Dimond went to Court TV chairman Henry Schleiff months before the police raided Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch.
According to the report, she told Schleiff she was "working on a great story," and asked him to foot the bill by committing "money and manpower to help dig it out."
Some have already found it incredibly strange that she was the sole reporter to break this current story, as well as being the first source for information about an arrest warrant, which no other reporter or news agency could independently verify before District Attorney Tom Sneddon's first press conference confirming it.
It appears rather odd in retrospect that Dimond would be the only one privy to such information. Dimond has long been rumored to be a mouthpiece for the prosecution. In fact, it was reported here earlier that many observers have noticed a very close "relationship" between the media, in particular, Dimond and the "District Attorney",Tom sneddon "
In 2005, Court TV, citing financial strains from expanded trial coverage on both the Scott Peterson murder case and the Michael Jackson case, decided not to renew Dimond's contract and her entire investigative unit was disbanded. After leaving Court TV, Dimond's book on her investigation of Jackson was published by Simon and Shuster's Atria books entitled, Be Careful Who You Love - Inside the Michael Jackson Case. Following Jackson's death in 2009, Dimond became a daily contributor on Entertainment Tonight for its "Michael Jackson Investigation".
Dimond can be heard, along with mediator Lee Jay Berman and comedian Louise Palanker, on Talk It Over, a call-in program that helps listeners with personal conflicts through the use of mediation tools, common sense and humor. She is also a regular contributor to the Wall Street Journal, featuring Women in Crime Ink blog.