Sunrise presenter David Koch among critics over Schapelle interview payout
The Seven Network’s is remaining tightlipped on its rumoured multimillion dollar payout to convicted drug smuggler Schapelle Corby after it was publicly criticised by Sunrise host David Koch this morning with one of its producers in Bali have also allegedly voicing their disapproval of the deal.
As Mumbrella reported yesterday, the Seven network is rumoured to have paid $1m to $3m for an exclusive first interview with Corby after Sunday Night reporter Mike Willesee whisked her away to a secret location after she was released from prison.
This morning Koch told viewers of Sunrise he and his wife had argued about the ethics of the deal sparking a debate with co-host Samantha Armytage and among Sunrise viewers.
Mumbrella has been told by rival networks in Bali one Seven producer had said any deal would “lower the tone of the network” on Sunday, sugesting the deal had been kept top-secret by the company.
Today Koch said: “I reckon we should have nothing to do with her as a network. Totally disagree with paying a convicted drug smuggler $2m.”
Armytage responded: “Too late for that.”
She went on to say she would like to watch the interview and hear about her time in jail, but Koch continued: “I know Indonesia’s corrupt and all that sort of stuff, but she was convicted, so why pay the money?”
It is understood other networks vying for the interview had not been given the opportunity to present their offers to the family, before Seven’s exclusive was secured.
Seven has declined to comment on the network’s response to the criticisms.
Megan Reynolds
I find it astounding that someone who has been TRIED & CONVICTED of drug trafficking is being treated like a celebrity by Australian press…it doesn’t send a good message to young people especially.
I don’t understand why she got parole in the first place & seems she really may PROFIT from crime which is disgraceful! I have seen so many people in a downward spiral due to drugs & been to many funerals of people taken as a result & it frustrates me that with all the work some of us do to try & get people off substances, people like her peddle that poison…she is fortunate she is still alive, sadly many who are on the receiving end of drug dealers/traffickers ware’s do not have that luxury. I can’t help wonder if she wasn’t attractive if she would be getting special treatment – she is not the only one in gaol’s around the world who gets depressed I am sure. So sad that Bali has caved in.
Part of her bail should be that she & her family can NEVER profit from her crime financially. Interesting her half brother has also been linked to drugs in the past. Such a shame if the rumours are true & Channel 7 did pay such a crazy amount to a criminal, if they have money to burn maybe the network could look at investing it in ventures which are of a positive nature & send positive & law abiding message to the public.
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Erm… If you have trouble with people profiting from crime, maybe avoid watching Wolf of Wall Street also.
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Terri, I agree to a large extent.
The downside for the network is that positive shows don’t have the same return on investment. Corby may still be pursued under the proceeds of crime act.
Does this mean you won’t be watching the interview?
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I rarely make comments on current affair issues BUT I am so over the media hating Schapelle Corby because she has a dysfunctional family….. lets put this in perspective, she was charged by an Indonesian court for smuggling marijuana to Bali ( coals to Newcastle?) and sentenced to 20 years in a disgusting prison sharing a cell with 12 women and rats and cockroaches. Even the water is foul smelling and the food barely edible. She’s been there TEN YEARS. She has never admitted guilt in all that time! Did her father plant it…. did she cover for him who knows. Now lets fly to COLORADO….. everyone on radio makes jokes about how amusing the legalisation of marijuana is and how they now run “Rocky Mountain High” tours….. I bet some of the people who diss Shapelle smoke some dope from time to time! Right! I bet none of the righteous journos’ would last a week in that Bali prison.
Come on people…. at least be fair and try and be honest! Are you just a little bit guilty too! What is the real basis of this hate? Tell me……
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Good point about the bail condition to not profit from the crime, agree with you on that. However, there seems to be suggestions that the trial in Bali was not a fair one, with tampering of evidence and a number of other factors which may have meant an innocent person was convicted. What if that was indeed what happened?
The comment about her looks is just silly.
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I am also amazed that being convicted and jailed as a drug smuggler can warrant any payment for a story. Channel seven – shame on you. Why don’t you give your money to charities that are helping millions of people or animals.
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I agree totally Terri, but to say that Indonesia is corrupt is speaking without thinking.
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C’mon! It’s a PR stunt to promote the interview! A controversial $2 million interview will draw more audience!
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We can only hope that the future of real journalism (the internet) finds a way to make the $2 million a waste of money.
For those that feel they MUST watch the “interview” , after youve parked the commodore, slipped on the tracky dacks, loosened the check shirt and ripped the top off a tinnie…can you at least watch the pirated download version without the ads.
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Hellooo…
Oh Kochie, what sort of business do you think you are in?
Payments are regularly made to all sorts of people. Even “Chopper” had his day. Look at the grief over actor Philip Seymour Hoffman who died with – allegedly – a neeedle in his arm!!! On your own show, Kochie.
And the relentless Reporter unhesitating into the face of the grief-stricken relative “how do you feel?”. (Kochie, how do you THINK they feel?)
Kochie, what sort of business DO you think you’re in.
Do Reporters still throw rocks into crowds of protesters, hoping for reaction? Do we still see stories slanted to suit the commercial interests of your Owners?
Nice, in a way, to see someone (anyone) at the Network taking a stance on moral grounds, but do not be feeling this Corby deal has slid the Network into the slime, Networks live in slime.
Still, I suppose anyone NOT earning over a million dollars a year (sound familiar David?) can take the moral high ground over this unfortunate girl. But for someone earning what YOU do, Kochie, it’s a bit rich.
What she SHOULD do is refuse to have anything to do with any of you.
But then, YOU’D still talk about her because you’re PAID TO, Kochie.
(but not Mel Doyle. Remember when she was on $700,000 to your $1,000,000 Kochie? back in 2011?)
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In a country that has immortalized criminals and ‘larikins’ since it’s European settlement (see: Ned Kelly and Eureka Stockade) its’ hardly surprising right?
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She deserves every cent! like Lindy Chamberlain the truth will one day come. We all tortured Lindy as well -all the while she was grieving for her dead baby-like Shapelle poor women-the both of them-ask the couple that were told by the Australian consulate to flush the big block of Heroin down the toilet and say nothing when they arrived in Bali to their hotel room and opened their suitcase panicking.
Fancy whacking a whole heap of dope in your boogie bag – the same boogie bag that has your name and address – that you wrote on there yourself-come on people!!!
Here is a thought-maybe she was a young women who indeed is a victim of crime??? crroked cops ,crooked electricians, crooked teachers,crooked baggage handlers…………….
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How long do you think it will be before she is on Dancing with the stars?
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The interview won’t even discuss her continued protestations of innocence, nor any theories about the trial or the Indonesian justice system. She can’t question the Indonesian justice system or she violates the terms of her parole and they’ll just lock her up again.
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I have always had doubts about her innocence but I can’t say for sure she did it. The image that always sticks in my head is when the guilty verdict was read out, she slapped her open hand to her forehead. This body language is always used when you blame yourself like saying “I stuffed up”, ‘I’m an idiot”, ‘Why ph why did I do it in the first place?”.
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We live in a capitalist society. If media want to interview her and ask her some questions she can demand a price. Some media outlets never pay for interviews on principle, some will pay. If you don’t like the reality perhaps you could move to a socialist country.
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Who cares? Don’t watch it and do something productive!
Easy…….
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She may be tagged as a convicted Drug Smuggler but that doesn’t mean she is guilty. The reason she has so much support is because many think she has been ‘stitched up’. She has had some of the most vital years of her life taken away from her unfairly and Koch is sour that she has kicked a goal now. Koch, you are a Gold Medal Fool.
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The “rumoured to have paid $1m to $3m” is pretty vague. Perhaps it’s more of a guess than a rumour 😉
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I also can’t understand why they are Making schappell Corby a convicted drug smuggler out to be a hero of some sort,the money that they are going to pay her surely could go a better cause,my two grandsons aged 41/2 and 3 were diagnosed with duchenne muscular dystrophy on the 23rd December 2013, this has shattered the lives of there parents and extended families,the hopes and dreams they had for the boys have been shattered, this cruel disease affects the muscles, they canbe in a wheelchair by the age of 7 and if lucky 12, live expectancy is mid 20’s,surly this money that is going to be paid just for her story could be well spent on some research for these kind of diseases that are affecting our children of today,who with there parents would give any thing to find a cure.
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I want compo… my long response didn’t appear here…. groan! Well long response short….
Get OFF your moral high horses! People are quite simply JEALOUS! Poor woman has been to hell oh and has to remain in hell on parole…. Watch the VAN NUGENT story BETTER MAN… Hung in Singapore. … call this justice…. She has the right like any other person to make money from her story…. If murderer CHOOPER REED can then so can Shapelle….
And don’t expect the truth…. the woman’s likely innocent. … but I’m sure she wont be risking telling all in a country that could whisk her back to jail….
Koche. …. who are you to decide how people make a quid….
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I could not agree more with Daniel, the hand slap to the head has always spoken volumes to me, it very clearly says “how could I have been so stupid” and she did it over and over not just once. I believe she imported the drugs, I think they were either supposed to be intercepted by a baggage handler who couldn’t get to them or that she was just dumb enough and greedy enough to try to smuggle them in. The argument that no one would smuggle drugs in to Bali doesn’t hold up, the weed was worth 3x more in Bali than in Australia. Either way I believe she is guilty, she shouldn’t be paid but she will be, it will be paid to her sister or a trust, either way she will profit from her crime, what did she make, over a 100k a year, not bad, she’s only 37, just about worth it.
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I literally cannot believe Kochie’s insensative response. That poor woman has been jailed in an awful Bali prison for 10 years, with a conviction that nobody was entirely sure about. Schappell had to suffer for years with those terrible conditions and was treated worse than I am sure any of us can ever grasp. I wonder if Kochie can imagine being convicted for something you still insist you are innocent about in a forgein country (who’s human rights practices are questionable at best).
I would also like to draw attention to the other ridiculous people the network pays to blabber their inane opinions to the world. How is Kochie ok with paying them and not this poor woman who has gone through terrible trials, and is left with nothing.
Then again I suppose it is easy to be critical when you view things from a guilded perch………
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