Larry Garrison - The NewsBreaker: A Behind the Scenes Look at the News Media and Never Before Told Details about Some of the Decades Biggest Stories

Endorsements

Larry Garrison was extremely helpful with setting up the exclusive interview with the two Michael Jackson jurors who now say he is guilty. Larry was very professional to work with and I look forward to dealing with him much more in the future. Larry Garrison is a true news breaker.

RITA COSBY, MSNBC Host

It has been great working with you.... You are a gentleman and a great journalist.

LANA PADILLA, ex-wife of OKC Bomber, Terry Nichols

You are a fine journalist and a true friend.

Ellie Cook, Juror #5 in the Michael Jackson trial

Knowing Larry, you will be extremely informed and inspired. NewsBreaker gives you facts through entertaining value... excellent read.

RUDY RUETTIGER, Notre Dame #45, Rudy

It was great working with you and John on the North Hollywood shoot-out. You are a true Newsbreaker-Journalist.

TERRY M. GOLDBERG, Esq., lawyer,
the North Hollywood Shootout

Larry is more than a journalist and film producer, he is an activist. He represents real hope in bringing about change for the common good... for all of Gods creatures, both great and small.

RIC OBARRY, Dolphin Project, www.dolphinproject.org

The NewsBreaker

The NewsBreaker

LARRY GARRISON

WITH
KENT WALKER

Copyright 2006 by Larry Garrison.

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or otherexcept for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson. Thomas Nelson is a trademark of Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Thomas Nelson, Inc., titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, fund-raising, or sales promotional use. For information, please e-mail SpecialMarkets@thomasnelson.com.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Garrison, Larry.
The newsbreaker / Larry Garrison, with Kent Walker.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 10: 1-59555-058-5 (alk. paper)
ISBN 13: 978-1-59555-058-3
1. Garrison, Larry. 2. Television journalistsUnited StatesBiography.
I. Walker, Kent, 1962- II. Title.
PN4874.G327A3 2006
070.92dc22
[B]

2006022084

Printed in the United States of America

05 06 07 08 09 QW 5 4 3 2 1

Contents

This book is dedicated to Shannon Buckley, Scott Brazil, Helen Garrison, Robert Garrison, and James Garrison who have been my inspiration and who I miss dearly.

I would also love to thank my children Jaime, Lindsay, and Sean, my son-in-law Michael, my grandson Dylan, Lee, Nolan, Melissa, and my sister R. Stephanie Good, who have all inspired me to try and make a difference in the world.

Special thanks to my agent Bill Gladstone, Ming Russell, Jim Baird, David Dunham, Joel Miller, Alice Sullivan, the team at Nelson Current, and Kent Walker who helped make this book possible.

I would also like to thank you, the public, for being sophisticated enough to know that you deserve the truth and will accept nothing short of that.

I hate traffic. Driving home up Highway 101Hollywood behind me and my home in Westlake before mea thirty-mile drive takes over an hour. The one good thing about Southern California road time is that it gives a person a chance to reflect.

I had just dropped off lunch for my twenty-two-year-old daughter, Lindsay, at the movie set where she was working as a key make-up artist. She had forgotten to pick it up before work and coaxed me into delivering it. I got to the set and was proud of my daughters professionalism. I spoke with the director for a moment and watched a take. Just as I was leaving, one of the extras asked, So, Mr. Garrison, what kind of work do you do? I just smiled, shook his hand, and walked back to my car.

My kids have a tendency to be a little dramatic. Its a direct result of having a father who has been involved with the entertainment and news industry for the last twenty-five years. For twelve of those years, Ive been a single dad. Because of that, my kids have often been exposed to my work. And like me, theyre also becoming goal-driven adults with a dash of overachiever. This troubles me when I think about my middle childhow relentless the business is that shes chosen. The money and romance of the entertainment industry are hard to resist, but its those same traits that make it cutthroat and competitive.

Ambulance chaser and media whore are just a couple of the less flattering descriptions used to label me and what I do. Most jobs have titles like firefighter, CPA, or whatever. One or two words or an acronym, and thats all the explanation needed. The easy out for me is to say that Im an executive producer for film and TV. But what I do requires much more explanation than a simple title can provide. No matter what the short descriptions are, they describe only part of what I do.

Ambulance chaser? Maybe so. Part of my work requires that I be on the lookout for people who get caught up either directly or indirectly in a situation that is so far out of the ordinary that their story becomes newsworthy. Personal injury attorneys, the other so-called ambulance chasers, have been the butt of jokes for years. Some view them as scavengers whose only purpose in life is to search out and exploit the misfortunes of others. Most people go through their lives oblivious to the workings of the civil law process, until misfortune rams into their lives and they really need help from someone who knows the system. Lawyers, I guess, will always take the brunt of jokesuntil theyre needed. Then they become a victims best friend. Attorneys have to be familiar with the laws to represent their clients well, to ensure the highest possible settlement, or to successfully argue in front of a jury why their clients are entitled to compensation for their pain and suffering. Lawyers take an oath to do just thatrepresent their clients to the best of their ability.

My clients are of a different nature. I dont practice in a court of law; I operate in the court of public opinion. But the people I represent need me in the same way a victim needs a lawyer. My clients have often been thrust into territory so far from what theyre accustomed to that the process could chew them up and spit them out without someone like me to watch out for their best interests. In much the same way lawyers help their clients through the legal system, I help my clients navigate the media machine, specifically the news media. And even though I dont always chase them, I am always on the lookout for them.

I have more than eighty other people in the field on the lookout. I call them stringers, field people, and sometimes producers, as they often work with me on producing a story for the news. They could be doctors or lawyers or anything at all. One of my most significant researcher/producers is my sister, R. Stephanie Good, Esq. As a lawyer, author, and sponsor of humanitarian causes in New York, she has brought me countless stories that have ended up in your living room via TV news. My sister does it to get the spiritual side of stories heard, but other bookers often have a different agenda. Most are money-hungry or just get a rush out of finding newsworthy stories. They scour local papers, keeping their ears to the ground, knowing that whoever is the first to find that story that makes you say Oh, my God out loud may be in for a cut on a film or book deal.