Saturday, June 27, 2009

Paparazzi payday


If you've already maxed out on the coverage of Michael Jackson's tragic death, you might want to consider staying away from any supermarket checkout counters next week.

Jackson's death will no doubt dominate the covers of all the celeb mags and rags in the weeks to come.

(TMZ reports that TIME magazine has rushed a Michael Jackson commemorative issue into print that's due to arrive at newsstands on Monday.)

Random Pixels talked with a high level tabloid industry insider and we've learned that some big bucks were paid for the last photo of Jackson as his life slipped away.

My source tells me that Entertainment Tonight paid $100,000 for what's being called the "Exclusive last photo" of Jackson as paramedics attempted to resuscitate him as he was being transported to UCLA Medical Center in an ambulance.

My source also says that OK! Magazine won the bidding wars and the right to run that same photo in its U.S. and U.K. editions by paying a whopping $500,000.

The photo has almost certainly been shopped around to publications in other countries. By the time this is over, the photographers involved, stand to make a tidy sum.

All for one photo.
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Footnotes: If you've been waiting for the inevitable South Florida connection to this story, your wait is over.

Newseum.org has archived over 800 Michael Jackson newspaper front pages.

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