Amanda Knox Gives First TV Interview to ABC

Amanda Knox will be giving ABC the first television interview since she has been acquitted of murdering her college housemate while studying abroad in Italy.

After years of news networks trying to get Amanda Knox for a televised interview, it appears that ABC is the winner. The interview will be televised on April 30 with host Diane Sawyer, anchor of ABC’s “World News”. Ms. Knox was an American college student studying abroad in Italy when she was convicted of killing her housemate in 2009. This conviction was overturned two years later by a court of appeals. Her case had been widely covered by American news agencies, because of the international factor as well as the ages of all involved in the case, which was highly publicized. Network producers have been trying to secure the interview for the past two years now, mainly using the method of attempting to contact her family and friends.

Brian Stetler stated in his interview for the New York Times, “Of the many crimes involving Americans overseas, this one captivated the news media because Ms. Knox came across as an attractive girl next door yet was accused of heinous crimes and lurid sexual behavior.”

The interview is appropriately timed as Ms. Knox also has a book coming out this year, Waiting to Be Heard. The interview will without a doubt refresh the public’s interest in her story. ABC offered Knox the best interview package in contrast to NBC and CBS. The winning package included, “teases of the interview on “World News,” the newly first-place morning show “Good Morning America,” “Nightline,” and ABC’s local TV and radio affiliates; and exposure on Yahoo through ABC News’ alliance with that popular search engine” (Stetler). However the package from ABC does not include a monetary gain due to ABC’s 2011 decision to change the ways in which they compensate interviewees for their interviews.  The highly publicized interview proves to be one watched by many.