The Frost-Nixon interviews

[This article is the 3^rd part of the 3-part series discussing on how media plays a role in exposing hidden truths and secrets of people and bringing out the actual facts.]

Frost-Nixon interviews were a series of 4 interviews conducted by British journalist David Frost interviewing former US President Richard Nixon. These interviews were recorded and broadcast majorly on American television in 1977. The premiere interview was based upon the Watergate scandal. These interviews are the best example of chequebook journalism as Frost paid Nixon for appearing in the interviews.

One must be wondering as to why a disgraced  President come back into public attention 3 years after being declared the principle man behind the Watergate scandal. And why will a journalist take an interview of a person whom the public likes no more. I believe the best answer to both questions is ‘earning money’.

With no powers and very little respect, Richard Nixon had spent 2 years away from public life. During this time he wrote books describing his life as US President. But the revenue generated from sales was not enough to repay the debts to his lawyers. Thereby, he was in need of money. On the other hand, David Frost’s American talk show got cancelled, due to which he incurred some losses. He was left with anchoring not-so-successful shows like ‘Great Escapes’

Nixon saw an opportunity in Frost to payback debtors and redeem his public image through the interviews. Frost saw an opportunity to get attention of American viewership and make huge money from it. At that time Frost had made name in UK but was not popular in US. This was his chance to do it. Moreover, Frost had agreed to pay for the interviews, thus resorting to chequebook journalism.

Here, Richad Nixon made a mistake. He had assumed that a young interviewer would not press him much on the Watergate scandal and be able to comfortably answer his questions. But Frost had something else in mind. He recruited American Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) news  producer Bob Zelnick and a lecturer, James Reston Jr. To research on Watergate scandal prior to the interview. Thus, he mixed  chequebook journalism with investigative journalism. This allowed frost to press Nixon on various occassions during the interview and made Nixon uncomfortable to answer. Ultimately, nixon gave in and revealed some previous unknown details of the scandal, but continued to deny allegations that he had obstructed justice. But nothing could be done as he was pardoned by the next US President Gerald Ford.

The frost-Nixon interviews garnered a lot of revenue for David Frost. Moreover, the premier interview became the most watched political interview in the history which has not been broken yet. This interview is a specimen on how media plays a role in exposing hidden truths and secrets of people and bringing out the actual facts, those facts which even the court of law could not discover.

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