Interviewing

ABC News is being accused of checkbook journalism after landing the first sit-down interview with Joe Jackson following the recent death of his pop superstar son, Michael. Segments of a 45-minute interview with the Jackson family patriarch have already aired on ABC's "Nightline" and "Good Morning America," but the bulk of the interview will air tonight on the network as part of its summer series "Primetime Family Secrets." Mediabistro.

President Obama will take questions in the East Room of the White House today, but they won't be coming from the Washington press corps. Instead, the questions are being posed by visitors to the White House website, and then vetted by other visitors for their relevance and importance. Those queries that rise to the top of the pile will be posed to the president at 11:30 a.m. EDT, in an order based on popularity, administration officials said.